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Ten Fimes Doomed to the Gallows. 



Crime of the State, 



■Detailing the- 



Remarkable Experiences of 



Isaac Smith, 



Ten Times Doomed to \ f 

/ 

The Gallows. kT 



V 



The Crime ; the Arrest ; Indictment ; Conviction ; Sentence 

to The Gallows : the Ten Respites ; Commutation To 

Life Imprisonment; the Pardon and Vindication 

of a Good Name. 



1897. X^n-^ 

Published by the Author. 
Columbus, O, 



«l 






I If / 



COPYRIGHTED 1897. 

ISAAC M. SMITH & CO. 

COLUMBUS, O. 



PKEFACE. 



In the preparation of this volume, the time has been 
greatly limited to do full justice to a subject covering so 
many phases of criminal, legal and executive investigation. 
In the brief time of a fortnight, with manifold other duties 
constantly present, the author has endeavored to give for 
the first time the true story of the Crime of the State in the 
ease of Isaac Smith, who stood under the gallows ten times 
and faced death with the courage of an innocent and 
wronged man. He feels under many obligations to Attor- 
ney E. B. Kinkead for valuable suggestions made from time 
to time and for important documents, without which his 
work would not have the merit it may even have. J. M. 
Havs, of this city, with whom Isaac Smith now makes his 
home, was likewise a valuable prompter. The author was 
early a friend of Isaac Smith, and met him the day follow- 
ing his arrival, when he at once began an investigation of 
his own to satisfy his own mind on the guilt or innocence 
of the condemned man. He believed him guiltless then, 
with but a tithe of the evidence in his possession now, 
and now beyond any shadow of a doubt feels that he can 



i v CRIME OF THE STATE. 

claim for Isaac Smith an innocence that is absolute and spot- 
less as a babe. Personally, the author has the kindliest 
feelings toward all the characters in the book who came 
into the case after the commission of the crime, whethei 
they be living or dead. Acquainted intimately with them 
all, he yet felt that impartial history dictated the truth, 
which seemed so unfortunately absent at the time of the trial 
in Pike county. Isaac Smith is now a free man, and his 
future life will vindicate the confidence of his friends and 
their labors in his behalf. 

F. W. LEVEEING. 
Columbus, 0., Feb. 22, 1897. 








INTRODUCTION. 

The "History of a Crime" has made the name of Victor 
Hugo immortal. A crime of the state has likewise brought 
celebrity to a citizen of the state against whom the crime 
was perpetrated that will never be forgotten, and in the legal 
history of the state it will live as long as there is society to 
. ferret out crime and courts of justice to mete out punish- 
ment to the offender. The experience of Isaac Smith, ten 
times doomed to the gallows, and on Christmas day last, 
pardoned by the Governor, finds no parallel in Christian or 
pagan annals. Neither romance, nor the drama, nor tragedy 
ever has or ever will present a parallel to the case of Isaac 
Smith, snatched from the gallows and restored to society, 
from which he was taken by one of the vilest plots ever 
uncovered in the history of crime in this or any age, under 
any society, whether savage, barbaric or Christian. 

In criminal reports the case of Isaac Smith will rank 
alongside of that of the Bradford case in England, and will 
prove as destructive to the principle of circumstantial evi- 
dence as did the hanging of that unfortunate man, who was 
found bending over the victim with knife in hand and 
covered with the blood of the dying guest of the hotel. 
It was only many years after, when Bradford filled the 
grave of a supposed murderer, that the real murderer, 
stricken by conscience on his dying bed, admitted the mur- 
der of his master, and thus passed into eternity to meet his 
God and face his punishment. 

No case has excited so profound a feeling among all 
classes of people as has the case of Isaac Smith. Starting 
at first in the county of Pike, where he lived and toiled an 
honest and industrious man up to his twenty-fourth year, 



v { GRIME OF THE STATE. 

the impression that a fouler crime even than the one he 
was charged with committing was being fastened on him 
gained uncontrollable headway and seized on everybody in 
the capital, where the accused was awaiting the execution 
of the law's vengeance in the annex of the Ohio peniten- 
tiary, where murderers are shot through the state trap and 
started on their way through the mysteries of the unknown 
world. From the capital, where interest arose to a fever 
heat, the same feeling spread to other cities and counties 
of the state, until public sentiment became so strong that 
the condemned man was literally forced from his gruesome 
and horrible quarters in the hangman's row and commuted 
to an imprisonment for the balance of his natural days. 
But the same public sentiment that rescued him from the 
fatal gallows, where conspiracy, aided by ignorance and 
prejudice, had consigned him to an ignoble and awful 
death, once more asserted its mighty power, and Isaac Smith 
was taken from his living tomb and given back to society 
as one reclaimed from the dead. The story of his life, the 
slender thread which eventually became a chain of steel 
to bind him to the gallows, his arrest, trial, conviction, 
sentence to hang by the neck till dead, his sublime courage 
and indignant assertion of his innocence, his arrival at the 
annex with the stamp of murderer on his brow and the 
shackles of a felon on his wrists, his incarceration, his many 
respites and reprieves, his solitary vigil for hours in the 
death cell facing the scaffold yawning for him through the 
next door, his grave dug the one day and filled the next 
without him, his commutation and final restoration to free- 
dom and happiness — all these will be detailed in the pages 
to follow, with such accuracy and fidelity as their relation 
will require. 



. 



CHAPTER I. 



ISAAC SMITH. 



His Early Life, Where He Was Born and How He Spent 
His First Years in the Wilds of Pike County — His First 
and Second Marriage. 



Isaac Smith was not, as most people think, born in the 
county which made such a mighty effort to send him to the 
gallows. He is a native of Scioto county, and first saw the 
light in that county near the Pike county line on March 4, 
1865. At that time the two counties for miles around were 
but little more than densely-wooded tracts, whose sole popu- 
lation was composed mostly of lumbermen living in cabins, 
and claiming the States of Kentucky and West Virginia 
as their homes. They were, as a rule, a hardy set, and 
about many of them it was vaguely hinted that they had 
"killed their man" in the states where they had formerly 
lived. The country was wild and unsettled. School houses 
in that section were unknown, and but a single church, 
known as Harmon chapel, could be found for miles around. 
Here and there might occasionally be found a cabin of an 
adventurous settler, who had cleared away a patch, per- 
mitting the sun to shed his rays in the wilderness lying 
about. Agriculture was as badly neglected as education, 
the natives depending almost entirely on their earnings as 
lumbermen in the camps. The population in consequence 
was largely and naturally migratory and restless. Into such 
society was Isaac Smith ushered when he was born in the 
year following the heated presidential campaign of 1864. 



2 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

His father died when he was but a mere child, and 
his mother only survived a few years, dying when her son 
Isaac was but nine years old. Isaac made his home with 
relatives, and early learned the meaning of the Scriptural 
injunction of earning his bread in the sweat of his face. 
He grew up to be a tall, slim youth, as straight as an arrow 
and erect as an Indian. His physique was almost perfect. 
His complexion clear and glowing with the health of the 
hardy woodman, whose home was out of doors rather than 
within. His eye was mild and blue as the peaceful sky 
above the hills of his native heath. His face glowed with 
health, and his step was elastic and firm. From youth 
to manhood he had been a scholar in the school of ex- 
perience. What he had learned was derived from associa- 
tion with men rather than from books and school teachers. 
In all, perhaps, he did not attend more than two or three 
winter terms of school, but nevertheless he could read and 
write, though many have always assumed that these ac- 
complishments were acquired after his arrival at the peni- 
tentiary. But this is not the case. If such was the popular 
belief he had his own reasons for not wishing to contradict 
it. He^never was a man who either sought trouble or bor- 
rowed it. The opinions of others respecting himself were 
wholly immaterial to him so long as he was not absolutely 
injured thereby. This has ever been one of his marked 
characteristics. His sociable nature was shown when he 
followed the advice of the sacred writer and took unto 
himself a wife in the person of Miss Minnie McKinley, 
whom he had long loved and desired to make the partner 
of whatever of joy or sorrow might fall to his portion. 
This happy event in the life of Smith took place October 4, 
1885, when he was but twenty years of age. In the wilder- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 3 

ness of timber they started hand in hand on the voyage of 
this life, with happy expectations of the future, and little 
dreaming cf the days so near at hand, even then, which 
meant so much to them, and which changed the current of 
the husband's life. A little over a year after, when they 
had settled down in a cabin in the timber belt of Scioto 
county, the bride of a few months died, leaving a sorrowing 
husband with a small baby girl as the token of the love 
they bore each other, and a pledge of protection to the little 
one who opened her blue eyes on such expanse of heaven 
as the branches of the trees about them permitted. Another 
two years came and went, and Isaac Smith, for the sake of 
the lonely babe, again stood before the altar and pledged his 
vows to one who was to take the place of the child's dead 
mother. This was Miss Nellie Snively, who had displayed 
an inordinate affection for the lonely child. When this 
woman entered the home of Isaac Smith a serpent had 
entered his Eden, and from that hour he was doomed to 
suffer as few men in this or any other generation ever have. 




ISAAC M. SMITH. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE FATAL GAME OF CARDS. 



Isaac Smith Escapes One Death Only to be Reserved for 
Another and Worse One—He Was the Original Victim 
of Murder for Robbery. 



At this period of the career of Isaac Smith new char- 
acters appeared. The orbit of his life led him across the 
orbits of others, and finally, through them, to the cell of a 
condemned murderer. Following his marriage to Nellie 
Snively came troubles that in his whole career he had never 
dreamed would come to him. Guyon Fowler appeared on 
the scene with an infatuation for the newly-made bride 
which, it is asserted, had existed prior to the marriage of 
Smith several months before. Then came his acquaintance 
with the Vances, "Yaller Dick" and "Black Dick" Vance. 
These men were from Kentucky and West Virginia, and 
were considered as no better than desperadoes, who had been 
m close touch with the McCoy-Hatfield gang in those two 
states. It was commonly rumored, and never denied, that 
one, if not both of them, had "killed his man." The 
Vances at the time of the murder of Stephen Skidmore 
were living in a lumber camp about three miles above 
Rarden, and known as the Indiana saw mill, in the southern 
part of Pike county. The home of Stephen Skidmore was 
situated just two and a quarter miles east of this mill, while 
that of Isaac Smith was located on an air line six miles and 



6 CRIME OF THE STATE, 

three-quarters west from Skidmore's, or about miles 

from the Indiana saw mills. The wickedness of Guy 
Fowler and the infidelity of Isaac Smith's wife made a 
deep impression on the mind of the husband, and he de- 
termined to leave not only the neighborhood, but the state 
as well, and find another home, where he could at least have 
that peace of mind which was denied him here through 
the liaisons of his wife with Fowler. This resolution he 
communicated to his friends and relatives, and soon it was 
a matter of common talk that Isaac Smith was going to 
leave the country and take up his residence in Arkansas, 
where he expected to- find employment in a lumber camp 
about thirty miles out from the town of Pine Bluff. No- 
vember 11, 1888, fell on Sunday, and it was to be the last 
day that Isaac Smith was to spend among his friends and 
acquaintances in that section of the country, for on the 
morrow he was to start for the wilds of Arkansas. He had 
at that time separated from his wife and forever cast her off. 
On the previous evening he had spent the night with his 
sister, who lived neighbor to Stephen Skidmore, his cousin, 
who was murdered. Sunday he ate his last meal with that 
sister, intending that afternoon to visit his sister-in-law, 
who lived several miles west of the Indiana mill, where the 
Vances had their cabin. When he started on the way to the 
house of his sister-in-law, his cousin, Stephen Skidmore, 
who was at his sister's, expressed a wish to accompany him 
as far west as the Indiana mill. The two men trudged 
along on foot until the mill was reached. At and about the 
mill were several persons besides the Varices. 

Among these was Nate Wallace, who afterward pre- 
tended to become a clairvoyant and revealed the hiding place 
of the pocket-book of the man who was killed. A subse- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 7 

quent chapter in the life of "Wallace can be had by reference 
to the discharge list of the Ohio penitentiary for the year 
1896. From his boyhood up Isaac Smith bad a fondness 
for cards. In that sparsely settled country, where amuse- 
ments were rare and the opportunities for recreation few and 
far between, it was but natural that the natives would 
spend their idle moments in cards. Cards were as fashion- 
able there as tea parties and church socials in the cities 
and more thickly settled localities. No sooner had Isaac 
Smith and his cousin, Stephen Skidmore, arrived at the 
Indiana saw mill, than a game of cards was proposed. It 
was then Sunday afternoon, November 11, 1838. The 
hour was 2 o'clock. It was a bleak day in the late fall. 
Overhead was a dull, leaden sky. Around about was a 
wilderness of trees and stumps. Here a narrow ro^.d wound 
its way through the timber, intersected by another running 
north and south, going to the town of Rarden, about three 
miles south. What houses were in sight were but cabins 
hastily improvised for the temporary purposes of the sturdy 
lumbermen who were engaged in felling the stately timber 
of that region and converting it into a product for the 
market elsewhere. In one of these cabins lived "Black 
Dick" Vance and his wife. With him lived his cousin, 
"Yaller Dick" Vance, who was a single man. With them 
also lived Mary McCloud, who performed the duties of a 
servant. Later along it was the testimony of this same 
Mary McCloud that convinced many people that Isaac 
Smith was not the slayer of Stephen Skidmore. 

When the fatal game of cards was proposed none ac- 
cepted the proposition with more readiness than Isaac 
Smith. On one side were arrayed Isaac and his cousin, 
Stephen Skidmore. Against them were the Vances. The 




DETECTIVE BROWN, 






CRIME OF THE STATE. 9 

stakes were a ten-dollar violin and a ten-dollar bill. The 
latter belonged to Skidmore, while the violin was the prop- 
erty of one of the Vances. 

As Isaac Smith sat there that dull, gloomy afternoon, 
so like the life he was destined to lead for the next eight 
years, he little dreamed of the thoughts that were revolving 
in the minds of his associates respecting himself and Skid- 
more. He little thought that as the cards were dealt out 
the partners on the other side were dealing out to him a 
death on the gallows and to his partner in the game a speed- 
ier and equally as horrible a death at the hands of an un- 
known executioner in one of the wildest spots of that region. 
Into this drama of life, which brought death to one of the 
cousins and the sight of the hangman's noose ten times to 
the other one, now comes another character, in the person 
of Detective Brown, of Columbus, O., who at that time was 
associated with Detective T. E. Foster, of the same city. 
Detective Brown made several trips to the locality where 
Isaac Smith spent the greater portion of his life and to the 
scene of the murder of Stephen Skidmore. His official re- 
ports made to the Governor of the state, who at that time 
was James E. Campbell, and also to others in authority, 
had much to do with unfolding the conspiracy which came 
so near ending in the tragedy of the gallows for Isaac Smith. 

The theory of this detective is so startling that it is now 
related for the first time. In the course of the game of 
cards, which lasted until about six o'clock, Guy Fowler was 
seen to be coming down the road running south to Harden 
from the north. This was considered a most important 
clue in unraveling the conspiracy against Smith, as will be 
seen later along. Detective Brown was satisfied that the 



10 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

original victim was to have been Isaac Smith, himself. It 
was known that he was to go away on the morrow. 

It was known to the Yances, as well as to everybody 
else, that Smith was spending the two previous days at the 

home of his sister nearly three miles east of the Indiana 
saw mill, where the Yances lived, and the fatal game of 
cards was played. It was likewise known that Smith, ere 
he left the country for Arkansas, would naturally pay a 
farewell visit to his sister-in-law, with whom he lived and 
to whom he had deeded his half interest in the property 
she occupied, and which was the result of the joint savings 
of Isaac Smith and his brother during the lifetime of the 
latter. In gratitude to this brother and his wife for their 
kindness to him, Isaac, following the death of his brother, 
deeded his half interest to the widow. It was here that his 
feet were directed on this fatal day in gloomy November 
nearly nine years ago. To reach this house he must pass 
the Indiana saw mill and pass the Yances and their con- 
federates, Nate Wallace and Guy Fowler. What would be 
more plausible than the tale that could be told after the 
departure of Isaac Smith on the very day he was advertised 
to start for Arkansas? Who would ever think of looking 
for his dead body hidden away in the recesses of some dark 
and forbidding ravine in those wilds, when everybody sup- 
posed he was in the lumber region of Arkansas? Would it 
not be supposed that he was going away with monev enough 
to see him through almost any sort of experience that a 
man like Smith would be expected to meet? To men like 
the Yances and their confederates nothing would be easier 
than the waylaying of Isaac Smith, killing him as Stephen 
Skidmore was killed and, rifling his pockets, secrete his re- 
mains in the manner described above. His unhappy mar- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. H 

riage and the public knowledge that the wife was more 
devoted to Guy Fowler was also known in the neighborhood 
and given out as the chief and only reason why Isaac Smith 

wished to leave a section of country where his domestic 
honor had become a matter of public notoriety, and his 
hearthstone defiled by a base and ignoble cfeature such as 
Guy Fowler was known to be by every one in the neigh- 
borhood. 

According to the opinion of Detective Brown, it was 
at this point that the plan of the conspirators was changed. 
The unexpected appearance of Stephen Skidmore with 
Isaac Smith, who had been marked as the original victim, 
disarranged their purpose of killing the latter. Doubtless 
it was to gain time to still carry out their purpose that 
the game of cards was proposed by the Yances. While it 
was in progress they could evolve another scheme to execute 
their intention respecting Isaac Smith. When this game 
of cards was at its height there was also another game — 
that of human life as the stake — being swiftly played in 
the minds of the Vances. As they shifted the cards and 
dealt the cut it must have come to their minds like a flash 
that after all it would be just as beneficial from a com- 
mercial standpoint to kill Skidmore as it would be to Mil 
Smith himself. He was known to have a lack of confi- 
dence in the banks, and when he had money, which he was 
credited with having to the extent of several hundred dol- 
lars, he invariably carried it about his person. Why not 
slaughter him, and through a system of carefully arranged 
circumstantial evidence, bring the guilt to the door of Isaac 
Smith, who was known to be leaving the very next day? 
Would it not be plausible to the unthinking and the un- 
concerned that Isaac Smith was the real slayer of his cousin, 



12 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



because be was the last man seen with Skidrnore, and was at 
the time carrying a gun when he left the Indiana lumber 
camp after the fatal game of cards? What would be more 
complete and corroborating than such details as these? 
These and other thoughts must have flashed through the 
minds of the Vances as they sat there that day in the 
lengthening shadows of that dismal November afternoon 
nearly nine years ago with their victims by their side un- 
conscious of the tragedy about to be enacted in their 
hitherto peaceful and industrious lives. 





JAMES H. WATKINS, (Sheriff Pike County, Ohio.) 



X 4 CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER III. 



ISAAC SMITH'S ARREST. 



His Adventures on His Return and Experience with 
Sheriff James Watkins — Returned Voluntarily to Ohio 
and Declined Opportunities of Escape. 



When Isaac Smith left the home of his sister-in-law on 
the morning of November 12, 1888, following the night of 
Skidmore's murder, he went to Mineral Springs, where he 
was to take the train on his long journey to Kingsville, Ark., 
which was about thirty miles from Pine Bluff. It was a 
sad day for him to think of leaving the scenes of his youth, 
where he had grown to manhood, and where there yet re- 
mained a bright-eyed pledge of his marriage for love, his 
two-year-old daughter, Essie May. This gentle child was 
the unconscious cause of the troubles that were so soon 
to beset the father, who adored her as the apple of his eye. 
More than a week before she was striken with a dangerous 
illness, and the fond parent, who at that time was prepared 
to leave for Arkansas, was detained at her bedside. Her ill- 
ness, taking a favorable turn, the father was enabled to 
proceed on his way after a week of fatal delay. It was 
after bidding good-bye to his lonely child and his sister-in- 
law that Isaac Smith appeared at Mineral Springs the same 
day about noon and took the train for Cincinnati, whore 
he expected to secure better rates for the Arkansas journey. 
At Newton, fiftv miles below Rarden, there boarded the 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 15 

train Guy Fowler, who had wrecked Smith's home and 
who seemed pursuing him as a Nemesis. The last time he 
had seen Guy Fowler was on the previous day, when, about 
4 o'clock, he had passed the Indiana saw mill, going south 
toward Harden. It was shown in the later developments, 
when an effort was made to locate Fowler after passing 
the Indiana saw mill until he was seen the next day, that 
he had spent the afternoon in Harden with a young woman 
named Minnie Kates, who stated on an affidavit that he 
had left her home about 3 o'clock, going north in the di- 
rection of the Indiana saw mill, where the Vances lived, 
where that fatal game of cards was in progress and where 
the friends of Isaac Smith believed the conspiracy against 
his life was hatched, and near where he was to fall a victim 
to the unerring aim of an ambushed assassin. In an hour's 
time Guy Fowler could easily have traversed the distance 
between Harden and the mill, where his confederates were • 
to be in waiting for him. Neither he nor they contemplated 
the appearance of a second party with Isaac Smith, who 
was to pass that way on his farewell visit to his little daugh- 
ter and his sister-in-law. In the dark minds of these men, 
Isaac Smith was marching from the home of his sister in 
the direction of his other relatives only to step into an open 
grave awaiting- him at the hands of those with whom he sat 
at the game of cards. When Guy Fowler passed that mill 
and saw Skidmore there, he went on south. He believed 
that, all was off, for that day, at least. Detective Brown 
was satisfied that when Fowler reached the camp, after leav- 
ing Harden, he made a circuit about the mill, coming south 
instead of going north, as he would naturally be supposed 
to be going from Harden. Seeing Skidmore there with the 
intended victim, he carried out his pretense of unconcern 



15 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

and did not stop at the mill, though it was never shown that 
he had any business to the north or had seen anybody in that 
locality any time during the day. Where was Guy Fowler 
between the hour of four o'clock on that fatal day and the 
next day noon, when he boarded the train at Newtown, fifty 
miles way, and accompanied Isaac Smith to Cincinnati? 
That was the question that Governor Campbell asked in 
vain. It was never answered, and never will be, until the 
scroll of eternity shall have been rolled back and time shall 
be no more. 

By some strange fatality, the two men stopped at the 
same hotel in Cincinnati and, by a still stranger coincidence, 
were lodged in the same room. The next day Smith starts 
for Arkansas, while Fowler returns to his work at Newtown. 
In the course of time, Isaac Smith arrives at Pine Bluff, 
whence he makes his way to Kingsville, a distance of thirty 
miles, where he at once engages in the work attached to a 
lumber camp. All this while he knows nothing about the 
commotion in the county back in Ohio that he had just left. 
He goes about his business as peacefully and contentedly 
as any man would who was conscious of having done no 
wrong. He secures employment the next day in a lumber 
camp. One evening, when he came into the town from the 
camp for his supper, he was quietly washing in the hotel 
room for that purpose. Without any warning, he heard a 
voice commanding him to throw up his hands, and at the 
same instant the demand was enforced by an ugly looking 
weapon pointing directly in his face as he turned to see what 
the performance meant. Without further ado, needless to 
say, Isaac threw up his hands and became a prisoner of De- 
tective McCord and Marshal Bateman, of Waverly. The 
.detective, however, was an Arkansas product who had been 
engaged by that famous Vidocq, Sheriff James Watkins, of 



CRIME OF TEE STATE. 17 

Pike county. The sheriff himself was at Pine Bluff, where 
he had been directing the "man hunt" for some days. He 
had studiously informed the breathless public of that city 
that a "red-handed" murderer was at large in the state, and 
if he were not captured, no man's life would be safe. He 
represented that Isaac Smith, whom he was after, never 
went to work in the morning without killing and eating a 
man, afrd unless he had his regular breakfast of "man," he 
could do no work the entire day. As a matter of course, the 
authorities became interested, to say the least, at the news of 
a "man eater" being in their locality, and all hands turned 
out to run down and capture the desperado from Pike coun- 
ty, Ohio. In consequence, every lumber camp for thirty 
miles around was searched, and it was not until Kingsville 
was reached that the "terror" was discovered and captured 
at the muzzle of a six-shooter in the manner described above. 
Of a sudden, Isaac Smith, the plain, unassuming work- 
man in a lumber camp, became famous. His late associates 
gazed upon him with awe and shuddered at the thought 
that for the past two weeks their lives had been in jeopardy 
at the hands of a "fugitive" murderer. But all this while 
Isaac Smith knew not a word of the crime charged against 
him. His captors declined to make any charge against him, 
and he was at once locked up. Morning came, and with it 
the information later in the day, that he was charged with 
the crime of murder. At Pine Bluff he was taken in charge 
by Sheriff Watkins, who was obliged to wear stays to keep 
from bursting with his own importance. Here the party 
was detained for nearly an entire day waiting for a train to 
carry them to the capital. Isaac, all the while, was treated 
with all the consideration due a bad man and a wicked des- 
perado. A vicious tiger entrapped in the jungles of the 
orient would not have been guarded with greater vigilance. 



18 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

He was heavily ironed. Food, was denied him, and where 
the party stopped to wait for trains, he was thrown into 
filthy jails and prisons and made to suffer all the indignities 
that a "cold-blooded" murderer ought to suffer. Sheriff 
Watkins, all the while, was in clover, when not visiting bar- 
rooms along the route. At Little Rock it occurred to him 
that he was in danger of losing his laurels to Marshal Bate- 
man, of Waverly, who was really the arresting party. Here 
it was that Isaac Smith could have given his captors trouble 
by refusing to leave the state without a requisition, but this 
he steadily and persistently refused to do. He was just as 
anxious to get back to Ohio and face his accusers as the Sher- 
iff himself was. While waiting for the train at the depot at 
Little Rock, Sheriff Watkins played a little trick on Mar- 
shal Bateman that made the latter an enemy for life. Mar- 
shal Bateman was a humane man, and would have treated 
bis prisoner with the regard that every man is entitled to, 
pending the establishment of guilt or innocence. A few 
minutes before the train arrived at the station, Sheriff Wat- 
kins dispatched the Marshal to another part of the city on 
an errand. While the latter was gone the train came in, 
and the Sheriff and the prisoner boarded it and proceeded 
on the journey without the marshal. The latter was with- 
out funds and had no ticket, the sheriff having charge of 
those things. It was four days before Bateman got away 
from Little Rock, and in the meantime Sheriff Watkins, 
who telegraphed ahead that he was coming with the "des- 
perado," reached the town of Waverly, which he entered 
with all the honors of a Roman consul returning from a cam- 
paign of conquest and triumph. He was the hero of the 
hour in the capital of little Pike. The multitude hailed 
him as the greatest of the modern Vidocqs, and his name 
was the signal of an acclaim that could be heard from one 



CRIME OF THE STATE. ^9 

end of the county to the other. It was a proud moment 
for the sheriff when he reached the depot in Waverly and 
stepped from the platform with such a daring and desperate 
murderer as Isaac Smith must certainly have been to do as 
he had done. The common people followed him to the jail 
and looked with open-mouthed wonder upon two of the 
famous men of the age. One had achieved undying fame 
as a sleuth — the other secured a name as a monster in mur- 
der. Such a sight many believed they would never live to 
see again, and there were devout thanks that their lives had 
been spared to witness a spectacle which they could proudly 
tell their children and their children's children after them, 
with the further consciousness of having the same related 
of them long years after they were in their tombs, when 
their descendants would gather about their fires of a cold 
and long winter night and relate over again to their children 
the wonderful sight beheld by their great ancestors. 

The journey from Little Rock back to Ohio, while one 
of uncertainty and mental distress to Isaac Smith was not, 
thanks to Sheriff Watkiius, wholly divested of its amusing 
features. The sheriff, who had always been a great; ad- 
mirer, as well as reader of the Apostle Paul, had followed 
the advice of him who lived after the straightest sect of hi9 
religion and had taken a little wine for his stomach's sake 
and for his often infirmities which appeared to be revealed 
many times on the way. In thus pouring out divers liba- 
tions to the gods, known and unknown, the sheriff naturally 
became tired and fell asleep in crossing the wild and rugged 
country between the capital of Arkansas and the metropolis 
of Tennessee at Memphis. But before he bade farewell to 
the fleeting cares of present life and retired to the arms of 
gentle Morpheus, he secured the desperate prisoner who had 
cost him such blood and treasure to capture by chaining him 



20 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

to the seat of the car opposite him. Then he dropped off 
into that slumber he so badly needed to dream of heroes 
and their triumphs when returning home. When the jour- 
ney was begun at Little Rock, the sheriff, conscious of his 
own greatness and fame and fearful that he might travel 
the long distance without anybody on the train being con- 
scious of how he had taken his life in his hand in running 
down a "bloody murderer/' resolved to take no chances of 
being overlooked by his fellow passengers. He was con- 
scious that did they but once know what an achievement was 
his and what a "human monster" there was on that train, 
he would be lionized from Little Rock to Cincinnati. So 
it happened that but a few minutes were required to reveal 
two facts to the passengers and the train men. One of tbem 
was that the train bore the most daring and adroit detective 
in the known world, and the other was that this same detect- 
ive could prove it by the very presence of the "desperado," 
whose capture had made him immortal. 

When he had drained the cup of his vanity to the dregs, 
the potion took its effect and the sheriff dropped off into the 
land of IsTod. In the meantime, Isaac Smith, chained to the 
seat like a wild animal, was with his thoughts, and sad ones 
they were to him, for he knew not what was in store for him. 
But through all that journey he maintained his courage and 
persistently affirmed his innocence of either knowledge of or 
participation in the crime. The restraint of the liberty of 
one who had never known what its loss meant, bore heavily 
on his heart. The cords that bound his wrist to the seat of 
the car did not cut as deeply in his flesh as did the 
humiliation of the suspicion that he was a murderer 
and the murderer of his friend and cousin, who 
had been his associate from boyhood. But while 
these thoughts were revolving in his mind, he noticed 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 2 1 

that his wrist was not secured to the seat at all, and that by 
a little effort he could readily release himself. This he was 
not slow in doing. Once f ree, he kept his seat, occasionally 
walking up and down the car for exercise. Meanwhile, the 
sheriff in his seat slept on as calmly and as peacefully as a 
babe nursing in its mother's bosom. The rolling of the 
train did not disturb him in the least. He was accustomed 
to his bed rolling and rising up in the middle before. The 
noise of the wheels grinding over the rails had no power to 
rouse him from the sleep of Bacchus. The loud voice of the 
brakeman calling the stations and banging the doors of the 
car fell upon his ears like snowflakes on the glaciers of the 
lofty and immutable Alps. He was dead to this world, and 
apparently without hope in the one to which he was going. 
But while this somnolence of the majesty of the law contin- 
ued, there were others who not only had their eyes open, 
but they were awake to the ludicrousness of the situation 
itself. The desperate character about whom they had been 
so eloquently told was loose and actually walking up and 
down the car aisles. There was no panic among the passen- 
gers. No hysterical woman jumped from the flying express 
through the car windows. No messages were sent to the 
next station ahead of the train with the information that an 
escaped murderer had broken loose from his captor and, hav- 
ing seized the train, was about to tear the state from the 
union and set up a government of murderers, by murderers 
and for murderers. No appeal was made to the governor 
for troops to either kill or capture the monster in human 
form and hand him, bound and gagged, over to the law for 
trial and punishment. On the contrary, the passengers kept 
their seats and even appeared to be sociable. Some of the 
more daring and courageous went so far as to enter into con- 
versation with the liberated "murderer" who, to the sur- 



22 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

prise of the on-lookers, utterly failed to draw his six-shooter 
and begin the slaughter of the passengers. The more timid 
approached and discovered, to their amazement, that the 
"terror" was in reality a human being and far from be- 
ing a wild man who hungered after human sirloins and 
thirsted for the vital fluid of domestic man. The conductor 
himself was the most forward of them all. He advocated 
lawbreaking of the most glaring nature by advising Smith 
to get off the car and take the next one to the west. He 
even volunteered to see that he was returned without cost 
to himself to Arkansas. Emboldened by this defiance of the 
law and disregard for the slumbering sheriff, others urged 
upon him the same course. When Isaac told them that he 
was bound to return to Pike county and refute the slanders 
of his foes and establish the good name that a life of twenty- 
four years of industry and honesty had aided him in build- 
ing up, they were once more amazed and marveled at the 
man. There was but a single passenger in the entire train 
who believed Isaac Smith guilty of any crime, much less 
murder, and he was asleep in his seat. For nearly two hun- 
dred miles that slumber was unbroken. The train itself was 
broken first. Arriving at Memphis, the coaches were taken 
over by ferry, two trips being required for the entire train. 
Isaac Smith happened to be on the forward end of the train 
when the division was made. He was taken over first, leav- 
ing the sleeping sheriff in the second section. About this 
time the latter awoke. When consciousness had fully re- 
turned to him he looked across the aisle to see how the pris- 
oner was getting along. Could he believe his senses ? Was 
he asleep or awake? Was it a cruel dream? The "mur- 
derer" had escaped. Where he sat there was naught but 
empty space. The post of the seat where he had been 
chained was not broken and gone. There was no hole in 



GRIME OF THE STATE. 23 

the window where a reckless assassin might have plunged 
through to liberty. The sheriff was wild. He ran through 
what remained of the train, and, seeing the conductor, ap- 
pealed to him for consolation and knowledge of the prison- 
ers whereabouts. "Oh," said the conductor, "he got off 
one hundred miles down the road, and you can never get him 
again." The sheriff sank into a seat and for some minutes 
he was undecided whether to jump into the father of waters 
or return a ruined man to Pike county and be laughed at the 
rest of his life. He decided on the latter course after 
thinking of the people further down the river and their 
riparian rights. When he landed he was destined for an- 
other shock. There stood Isaac Smith on the bank quietly 
awaiting his arrival, and about him were the passengers who 
had been told what a dreadful man the prisoner was all 
laughing at the situation and prepared to give the man from 
Pike county, Ohio, the reception of his life. After this 
event the heart of Sheriff Watkins softened a little and he 
tcok his "recaptured" prisoner to the nearest restaurant and 
actually allowed him to eat a square meal, which was the 
first he had tasted for several days. Despite the action of 
Smith in refusing to make his escape and thereby saving 
the reputation of the sheriff from endless reproach and ridi- 
cule, the latter still insisted that the prisoner must be man- 
acled. But to this Smith made strenuous objection and de- 
clared his intention of resisting with physical force any fur- 
ther attempts to humiliate him. Several times thereafter 
the sheriff renewed his effort to manacle the prisoner, but 
each time he was prevented by the latter. So in this man- 
ner Waverly was reached, and the triumphant entry else- 
where described was recorded in the annals of Pike county. 
When Isaac Smith left the county of Pike he was known 
to but a limited circle of acquaintances, but by them es- 



24 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

teemed and respected. When he returned nineteen days 
later he was known not only in every nook and corner of his 
own county, but through all the adjoining counties and by 
everybody execrated, while hundreds in silent mutterings 
indicated a purpose of anticipating the vengeance of the law. 
He began his first day's imprisonment on Sunday, December 
2, 1888. Then he was given a copy of the Waverly papers, 
and in them he saw inflaming headlines across the top of 
the page, his name branded as a murderer, and all the cir- 
cumstances that led the people to think the right man had 
been apprehended. Among other things was the telegram 
from Sheriff Watkins to the effect that he had Smith under 
arrest and had found on his person the knife and pocket- 
book of the murdered man, with some of the latter's letters 
and papers, besides. It was this monstrous lie that turned 
the hearts of the people away from Isaac Smith and led them 
to sanction the murder of an innocent man less than six 
months afterwards. 



-zffizr 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 25 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE PRELIMINARY HEARINGS. 



Isaac Smith as He Appeared in the Court of the Mayor and 
Later Before the Grand Jury — Remarkable Statement 
of the Court as to His Innocence — Sheriff Watkins' Jail 
and Conduct. 



At this period in the career of Isaac Smith there were 
but two opinions respecting him. One class of people be- 
lieved he was the bloodiest murderer that section of the state 
had ever known. Another class of people believed im- 
plicitly in his absolute innocence. Unfortunately for Isaac 
Smith, he was the sole representative of this class. The 
other class represented the remaining population of Pike 
county. A little later along the element in favor of Smith 
of which he was the sole representative received some ad- 
ditions. These were probably his lawyers, whom he subsf- 
quently engaged to defend him, though even yet he did 
not deem lawyers very essential in his case. When finally 
he was bound over to the grand jury and eventually indicted 
for murder in the first degree, another ally was added to the 
list of his friends. This was in the person of Judge Tripp, 
who, when Isaac was arraigned before him to plead, fixed 
the bail at $2,500, and urged him to give it. This was the 
first and the last instance in Pike county where a man 
indicted for murder in the first degree was ever allowed to 
give bond, and such a small bond as that. Judge Tripp did 



26 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

not believe in the guilt of the accused. But public senti- 
ment was against him. A reward of $500 had been offered 
for the arrest and conviction of the murderer of Stephen 
Skidmore. The sheriff of the county was serving his first 
term. He was a Republican, elected in a hitherto impreg- 
nable Democratic county, and he was ambitious to be re- 
elected. Not only that, but there was a price on the head of 
the murderer, and the evidence presented to the various 
juries seemed to point strongly in the direction of the man 
then arraigned at the bar of Pike county justice — God save 
the mark. Down in Harden thirty miles away was a nest of 
outlaws, to all practical intents and purposes, who had strong 
motives to secure the conviction of Isaac Smith, as will be 
shown later. An alliance with these men, who appeared in 
various acts so like the stage itself playing their respective 
parts made by the sheriff, contributed to the conviction of 
Isaac Smith as the direct result of prejudicing public senti- 
ment in advance through the means at the command of the 
conspirators. With the men who had good reasons for shift- 
ing the murder on another, in conjunction with the sheriff, 
who had the double motive of political and mercenary gain, 
backed, up by the newspapers, qne of which was controlled 
by the prosecuting attorney, also desirous of shining in 
the public estimation for a great achievement, it was not 
to be wondered at that Isaac Smith went to his preliminary 
hearings and final trial a doomed man in advance of the 
evidence. Seldom, if ever, has there been a combination of 
West Virginia murderers and cut throats, of despoilers of a 
home, of rancorous public officials, swayed by political am- 
bition and mercenary gain, the whole seething caldron of 
infamy finding emission through the columns of a news- 
paper controlled by members of the conspiracy of murder 
in the Crime of the State. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 27 

On December 3 it was arranged that the accused man 
should have a hearing before the mayor. But as he had 
made no preparations for attorneys the trial was continued 
until the following Thursday, when Smith appeared in court 
with Attorneys W. D. James and John A. Eylar. But two 
witnesses were produced at the trial by the state. These 
were the man who found the body of Skidmore and the 
coroner who held the inquest. Two or three witnesses had 
been subpoenaed by the defense, but when the testimony 
offered by the state came out the counsel for the defense 
made a motion to dismiss the case against their client and 
discharge him. This the mayor positively refused to do, 
and bound the defendant over to the grand jury without 
bail. This body was not to meet until the following Feb- 
ruary, which was in 1889. 

At the end of two months the grand jury began its in- 
vestigation of the case. The state made great preparations 
to secure an indictment in the manner and form so greatly 
desired by the enemies of Smith. Forty two witnesses were 
called to testify in the case, but none of them seemed to 
possess enough information to find a true bill against the 
accused man. This report of the jury, while discouraging 
to the enemies of Isaac Smith, did not dampen their ardor 
in the one purpose that they had in view. Another demand 
for witnesses was procured in some manner, and a hater's 
dozen of new witnesses was summoned to tell what the other 
forty did not know. These appeared to have fulfilled every 
expectation on the part of those who were rapidly becoming 
victims of insomnia at the bare thought of a red-handed 
murderer going scot free, and all for the trifling matter of a 
little testimony, when the commercial value of testimony 
was so low, as afterward appeared, in Pike county. A true 
bill (?) was found, charging Isaac Smith with first degree 



28 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

murder in killing his cousin, Stephen Skidmore. The in- 
dicted man was next brought into court and arraigned be- 
fore Judge Tripp where he pleaded not guilty. Then oc- 
curred a scene that is seldom witnessed in any court of 
justice in any country. The grave judge, sitting on the 
bench looking down at the prisoner standing before him 
under indictment for the gravest offense known to the laws 
of civilized man and a merciful God, said to him: "Mr. 
Smith, your case is not a bailable one, but from what I can 
learn the state has made out a very weak case against you, 
and as you have never been arrested before and are not a 
drinking man, I will permit you to give a $2,500 bond if you 
wish to do so." 

This action of the presiding judge and the words with 
which he accompanied it was a fearful blow to the state. 
Smith at that time was fully able to give the bond required, 
but preferred not to do so. He appreciated at this time 
the intensity of public feeling against him, and believed that 
the part of wisdom dictated his remaining in the county 
jail at Waverly, where he would be free from the machina- 
tions of his foes who, he had grave reasons for believing, 
would go to the farthest lengths in getting him out of the 
way, either through a legal execution or after the manner in 
which his cousin had gone. In this view his friends con- 
curred. The number and names of his friends were referred 
to a little before. While awaiting the action of the grand 
jury Sheriff "Watkins entered into an agreement with a 
member of the McCoy-Hatfield gang of desperadoes in the 
neighborhood of Smith's old home whereby one of them, 
in the person of Nate Wallace, was arrested on a bogus 
warrant and landed in the jail at Waverlv also. By some 
strange coincidence (and the life of Smith after the death 
of Skidmore was full of coincidences) Wallace was placed 
in the same cell. Smith suspected the motive of the sheriff 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 29 

in thus quartering upon him a member of the Vance gang 
and protested strongly to the authorities. He summoned 
his lawyers and related the circumstances to them. All 
appeals to the sheriff being ignored, Smith one day took 
matters in his own hands and administered a sound drubbing 
to Wallace, and one which he never forgot. That ended 
his fifty-two days' incarceration with the "murderer" of 
Stephen Skidmore. Later along the attorneys of Smith 
notified Wallace that if he attempted to testify as to any 
confession that he might claim that Smith had made to 
him while in jail would result in his own prosecution for 
perjury. The warning was effective in that Wallace had no 
confession to make purporting to come from Smith. 

The conduct of Sheriff Watkins toward the prisoner 
during his confinement in the Waverly jail was repre- 
hensible in the extreme. The jail at best was not a desirable 
place. It was far from a model affair. At no time, at 
least during the incarceration of Isaac Smith, was it in 
danger of becoming an asylum for the destitute and the 
starving. The prisoners confined within its walls had no 
need of anti-fat remedies. The only fat ever observed about 
the place at all was brought in by a turnkey in the shape of 
fat bacon that, had it been given a jail permit, would have 
been strong enough to walk to the bastile alone and un- 
aided. The balance of the menu was about what could be 
expected any sheriff would furnish who was serving his 
first term as an official in a county whose politics was strongly 
antipathetic to his own. In justice to Sheriff Watkins, it 
must be said that at no time during his administration was 
there any death from apoplexy as the result of excessive in- 
dulgence in the luxuries of life. In the entire length of 
his public service, extending over a period of two years, not 
a single case of gout was ever reported by the jail physician. 
The prisoners were strictly temperate and not one of them 



30 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

ever touched a drop. In the matter of light there was a 
plenty. God above, in His goodness and mercy, shed the rays 
of the glorious sun with such a generous lavishness upon the 
children of men that even a penurious sheriff of a back 
county was unable to prevent the beams from penetrating 
the dismal walls of his miserable prison. It can be further 
said that this particular sheriff , while he was willing there 
should be light in the dark places of the jail over which he 
ruled with a rod of iron, he was unwilling there should be 
light on some other transactions w r hich played an important 
part in sending Isaac Smith to the annex of the Ohio peni- 
tentiary. A bill of fare consisting of cornbread and hominy 
was served regularly to the prisoners every day. In those 
days the sheriff was decidedly populistic in his tendencies. 
He had little if any use for barbers, and during the in- 
carceration of Smith, which lasted seven months, he re- 
ceived one hair cut and two shaves. Following the convic- 
tion Isaac Smith had more close shaves than he got when 
in the custody of Sheriff Watkins. The friends of Smith 
were particularly severe on the sheriff in reference to his 
conduct respecting the admission of the relatives of the 
imprisoned man, Smith's little girl, Essie May, was 
brought to the jail as many as a dozen times, but she was 
never allowed to see the father who worshipped her. The 
trial w T as set for the week following the indictment in ac- 
cordance with the wishes of Smith. The lawyers, how T ever, 
took a different view of matters, and insisted on a later date, 
which would enable them, presumably, to prepare a better 
defense for their client, who was already chafing under the 
confinement of two months. The 17th of April, 1889, was 
the day finally agreed upon, giving Smith two more months 
of confinement. This delay, in a sense, proved to be another 
fatality to him. The good juda;e on the bench who had be- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



31 



friended him retired from office after a period on the bench 
lasting twenty-four years. He was a just judge and a 
humane man — traits developed by his years of valuable 
practical experience in administering justice to the people. 
He was succeeded by his son, Judge Tripp, who had studied 
law with two of the men who were in charge of the prosecu- 
tion. With Isaac Smith in this case it was another instance 
of a ruler rising up who knew not Joseph. Had the trial 
proceeded with the elder Judge Tripp on the bench, in all 
human probability Isaac Smith would have been acquitted 
and spared the horrors which not only turned his own hair 
gray, but that of his sister almost in a single night when the 
order came to dig his grave November 27, 1890. 





JOHN A. EYLAK. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 33 



CHAPTER V 



SCENES IN THE COURT. 



The Trial Brings Hundreds of People to Waverly to Get a 
Glimpse of the Celebrated Prisoner. 



Intense as was the feeling against Isaac Smith through- 
out the county of Pike, there was at the beginning of the trial 
some sentiment that evidence was lacking to convict him or 
anybody else. As an illustration of . the one-sided char- 
acter of the public mind, nearlv all of Smith's relatives went 
back on. him and joined in, the clamor for ]}is blood. Upon 
their heads as well as upon the heads of those who might 
be expected to have an interest must the crime of his convic- 
tion be laid and its atonement awaited. So thoroughly had 
the enemies of the accused nlan worked up public sentiment 
against him that even his, lawyers felt they were jeopar- 
dizing their future as professional men in that county. As 
was to have been expected, public curiosity, as the time for 
the trial drew near, became intense and even painful. So 
diligent had been the persecutors of Isaac Smith that it was 
impossible to find a juryman who had not heard all about 
the case and had his mind made up as to the question of 
guilt or innocence of the accused man. The 17th of April, 
1889, was one long to be remembered in the annals of 
Pike county history. It will be one that Isaac Smith will 
never forget. As he walked out of the miserable little 
jail where he had been confined on Sheriff Watkins' bacon, 
hominv and cornbread for nearlv five months, and into the 



34 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

crowded court room, lie little dreamed of tlie future that 
was not far ahead of him. He did not see the fatal rope 
dangling before his eyes as he afterwards so vividly saw 
it. He did not feel it clutching at his throat as was almost 
the reality a few months later. He walked calmly to his 
seat by the side of the sheriff, wdio fully realized the im- 
portance of his office, and sat down by his attorneys, James 
and Eylar. 

The court room was crowded to its fullest capacity. 
Men and women were simply running over every where. 
The bar of the county was there. The professional men in 
other directions were on hand. Officers of the county had 
favored seats. People from every section of the county and 
even out of the county were to be seen. Business in other 
channels was practically at a standstill. The name of Isaac 
Smith was on every tongue. The killing of Stephen Skid- 
more was the only theme in the morning, at noon and in the 
night. Such extraordinary interest in a trial was never 
known before in the county. When the judge entered and 
took his seat upon the beneh and the bailiff announced the 
opening of the court, which was to the accused at the bar 
the opening of a prison door leading to a gallows' trap, a 
solemn silence fell upon the great audience drawn thither 
to witness the struggles of a friendless man for his life. 
All eyes were turned upon the tall and erect young man who 
sat in conscious innocence by the side of the attorneys upon 
whom he leaned for his very existence. Had a stranger 
come into the midst of that throng without previous knowl- 
edge of its purpose in assembling, he would never have 
selected Isaac Smith as a man who was likely to have taken 
the life of a fellow-being under any circumstances short of 
actual self defense. There was not a maiden in all that 
concourse of curious and excited people who did not envy 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 3 5 • 

the soft, glowing complexion of the prisoner at the bar. 
There was no brain behind those rosy cheeks dark enough 
to plot the murder of a fellow-being. There was no brutal- 
ity in the slender fingers of the white hand that would ever 
touch the trigger to send a bullet into the head of the un- 
conscious victim. In the mild blue eye that peered from 
under a fair brow with its curling, chestnut hair, there were 
no gleams of murder foul, no flashes of hate, no glitter of 
deep-seated and determined revenge. Persons who had not 
seen the accused and who were led to believe that Isaac 
Smith was a monster clothed for some inscrutable reason by 
Providence in human form, were amazed and confounded 
when they looked upon his frank, open and manly coun- 
tenance and peered into the depths of his liquid blue eyes. 
Could this man of calm demeanor and gentle ways be 
guilty of so foul a murder as the one charged to him? In 
the minds of many men in that court room was a growing 
conviction that a horrible mistake had been made. From 
the tender heart of more than one mother and wife in that 
assemblage rose a silent prayer that the lonely youth at the 
bar of justice might be able to establish the fact of his 
innocence and go forth in the world to be a guide and 
comfort to the blue-eyed child of less than three summers 
who, in the arms of a friend, lay unconscious of the deadly 
peril besetting the one parent that God had spared to love 
and protect her. The presence of this child was a source 
of comfort to the father w T ho sat by her side with a thousand 
eyes resting upon him as a supposed murderer. The past 
must have been busy in the mind of Isaac Smith at that 
moment w T hen the child entered. His mind doubtless 
traversed the brief years when, in 1885, he stood by the altar 
and pledged his love to the one woman in all the wide world 
for him — the girl of his youth, the wif e of his young man- 



35 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

hood. Thirty miles away must his mind have wandered 
to the lonely grave where she lay that day spared the knowl- 
edge of the cruelty of man and the dreadful fate that was 
to be meted out to the one she loved so well. 

When the case was actually called, the attorneys of 
Isaac Smith announced their readiness for trial. The state 
responded with similar willingness, and the greatest trial 
that Pike county had ever known was on. A venire of 
thirty-six names was obtained from the wheel, and the work 
of examining them proceeded. Of the entire thirty-six but 
two were found who were deemed fit for jury service. A 
second venire was ordered, and to this one hundred and six 
more responded. Two days were required in getting the 
panel full, and when it was completed the ideal jury was 
found. The foreman was a Methodist preacher and about 
the only one who could read or write with either fluency or 
intelligence. It has ever been a mystery how, with such 
accomplishments, he succeeded in getting himself accepted 
as a juror. The three R's in that section of Ohio were con- 
sidered sufficient disqualifications for jury service, particu- 
larly in cases of murder in the first degree. The balance of 
the jury came up to the measure of the stature of every 
expectation from the standpoint of a Pike county court as 
then organized. No sooner was it learned that a venireman 
could neither read nor write than he was accepted without 
any further questioning by the state. The defense, satis- 
fied with acquittal even at this state of the trial, did not 
deem a strict examination on the educational line as at all 
essential to the welfare of their client. 

In two days the panel was full and the battle for a 
man's life had begun. A Pike county jury with pen in 
hand was fast tracing the Crime of the State. 



CRIME OF TEE STATE. 37 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE FIKST WITNESS. 



Wonderful Display of Canine Intelligence by Pike County 
Dogs — Remarkable Running Powers of Isaac Smith. 



The first man to testify in this 'cause celebre' was a wit- 
ness whose name was Johnson. He had found a dead body 
in the woods at the head of Camp creek near the Harman 
chapel. It was lying about ninety feet from the roadside in a 
secluded spot where it was not likely to have been easily 
found, were none looking for dead bodies. The body was 
lying on its back, while one arm was in the fork of a bush. 
Upon closer inspection he found a bullet wound in the back 
of the head. There was no doubt the man was dead, and 
consequently there could be no doubt of the guilt of Isaac 
Smith, who was on trial for the murder. Had he not been 
guilty he would not then be on trial for the crime. The 
finding of the body by Johnson, its identity as that of 
Stephen Skidmore, the presence of Isaac Smith in the court 
room as a prisoner charged with the murder were powerful 
factors in fixing the crime upon him in the mind of that 
jury, whose members, as a rule, could neither read nor 
write. When Mr. Johnson sat down the state was satisfied 
it had made out a prima facie case of first-degree murder. 
A look of triumph spread over the Vidocq countenance of 
the detective-sheriff, Mr* Watkins, while from the faces of 



38 GRIME OF TEE STATE. 

the audience it was plain to be seen that Isaac Smith and 
no other man could have killed Stephen Skidmore. It was 
fortunate for the state that it had such a valuable witness 
as Mr. Johnson. It almost seemed as though an unseen 
hand had miraculously pointed out the pathway for the 
feet of Mr. Johnson, and led him to the spot of a fearful 
crime, in the detection and punishment of which he was to 
play such an important role. Had Mr. Johnson found the 
corpse a day sooner there is not the slightest doubt in the 
world that the laurels of Sheriff Watkins would have 
suffered by comparison if they had not been wholly snatched 
from him. 

The next witness was the coroner of the county. This 
gentleman, while being summoned for the state, testified 
for the prisoner, and demonstrated beyond any doubt that 
Isaac Smith did not kill his cousin, Stephen Skidmore. 
He asserted that after going over the body, looking for 
bullet holes, he found one in the back of the head. 
Shrewdly suspecting that the bullet was still in the head, 
because he could see no place where it could have come 
through on the other side, he determined to do a little prob- 
ing, and as a reward of his enterprise he found the bullet 
which took the life of Stephen Skidmore. He then weighed 
it and found that it tipped the scales at thirty grains, while 
the bullet used in the rifle of Smith weighed fifty-two grains. 
The small circumstance of a difference of twenty-two grains 
could not be allowed to defeat the ends of justice in the eyes 
of this jury, dominated by a Methodist preacher who prac- 
ticed the Mosaic law of an eye for an eve and a tooth for a 
tooth rather than the gentler law of the Savior, who taught 
men to forgive their enemies and to bless those who despitely 
used them. From ihe beginning to the end of the trial Isaac 
Smith was compelled to establish his innocence rather than 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 39 

the state proving his guilt. He stood before the public as 
a guilty man until he could show he was innocent of murder, 
and the blood of Stephen Skidmoire was not upon his soul. 
Rapidly the state produced its star witnesses. Each 
constellation of witnesses had bright particular stars. Some 
shone with a lustre of the first magnitude, while others 
radiated with lesser effulgence. "Black" Dick Vance was 
a star of the first magnitude for the state. He told all about 
,the fatal game of cards on Sunday, November 11, 1888. 
He admitted being present with "Yaller" Dick Vance, Isaac 
Smith and Skidmore. He saw the latter two men leave the 
Indiana mill together, and said Smith had told him he was 
going home with Steve to help him shuck corn, though 
Skidmore never owned a stalk of corn in his life. Others 
of his kind testified. It was a great source of grief to 
Sheriff Watkins that in the group of the Vance Pleiades one 
of the seven stars had disappeared. This was "Yaller" Dick 
Vance, who left the country on the morning of the day 
following the murder, and has never been heard of to this 
day. Just why Mr. Vance suddenly discovered that his 
health was rapidly declining under the rigors of a Pike 
county climate, necessitating his immediate removal to a 
state further south the next day or the same night of the 
murder, will be stated further along. Mr. Vance at best 
was never in the enjoyment of good health, and this fact, 
coupled with a native modesty, characteristic of the McCoys 
and the Hatfields, made him nervous and of a retiring dis- 
position. That this was the case must be evident to any 
one who reflects on his sudden retirement to regions un- 
known a few hours following the murder. In the testimony 
of the state's witnesses it was clearly shown that Isaac 
Smith had been met on his way home by a number of persons 
going to church at Harman chapel between the hours of 



40 GRIME OF THE STATE. 

six and seven. The importance of this testimony must not 
be lost sight of when compared with the statement of the 
county surveyor, who was the next witness in the case. 
He had surveyed the distance from the Indiana saw mill to 
the spot where the body of Skidmore was found. The 
distance was two miles and one-quarter, the direction being 
east of the mill and opposite the course taken by Smith 
on his way home. Then he measured the distance from this 
spot to the home of Isaac Smith and found it to be four 
miles and one-half west, making a total distance of six miles 
and three-quarters. Here the bloody hand of the conspiracy 
could be plainly traced. To fix the crime on Isaac Smith 
it was necessary that he and Skidmore should leave the 
Indiana saw mill together. It was also important that they 
should go east instead of west, where Isaac Smith had 
started to go, and where he did really go, to stay that last 
night at the house of his sister-in-law prior to his departure 
the next day for Arkansas. As it was clearly demonstrated 
by witnesses that he had arrived at the house of his sister- 
in-law at 7 o'clock, and had been seen on the way after leav- 
ing the Indiana saw mill, it would not have been possible 
for him to have accompanied Stephen Skidmore two and a 
quarter miles east and killed him there and returning reached 
the house of his sister-in-law six miles and three-quarters away 
to the west all in less than an hour. There are places in 
Pike county where it would puzzle a freight train to make 
ten miles an hour, and much less could a man travel nearlv 
seven miles within fifty minutes. With the state this was 
a trifling incident. A man who could fire a thirty-grain* 
bullet from a fifty-two-grain rifle into the head of his cousin 
would have no trouble in walking seven miles in fifty 
minutes, or a mile every seven minutes. The state was 
perfectly willing to admit that, as an amateur sprinter, Isaac 



— 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 41 

Smith had few equals and no superiors. The running of 
Ahimai, the son of Zadok, was not in it with the running of 
Isaac Smith over the hills and through the brush of Pike 
county after killing a man with a thirty-grain bullet fired 
from a fif ty-two-grain rifle. If God in His infinite wisdom 
should once again send His only begotten Son upon the 
earth and He should make a spittle of clay and put it upon 
the blind eyes of the Colossus of Rhodes and bid that seven- 
.leagued statue of the pagan world rise up and walk, Isaac 
Smith would still hold the record as the champion sprinter 
of all time to come. 

Another witness called by the state was a man named 
Henry McCarthy, and ho was beyond all peradventure a 
star of the first magnitude and of purest ray serene. After 
this witness had testified awhile the state became alarmed 
and abruptly stopped him, for it was in imminent danger of 
discovering who had really killed Skidmore. The tale of 
McCarthy gave the state a genuine scare. Mr. McCarthy 
was something of a dog fancier, and the intelligence of his 
dogs on the occasion he mentions was sufficient to bring a 
blush of shame to the wise and solemn jury which sat in the 
box listening to the story of the dogs owned by Henry Mc- 
Carthy. With almost human instinct, these dogs would go 
down in the direction of Skidmore's body and then return 
whining piteously at Mr. McCarthy's feet, as much as to say, 
"Come along with us; Stephen Skidmore's body is lying 
down here in the woods with a bullet hole through the 
head, and there are tracks leading away from the the scene 
of the crime which doubtless run to the house of the mur- 
derer; come along Mr. McCarthy and help us unravel the 
crime and we will assign all our part of the glory to you and 
your heirs and assigns forever and forever." What wonder- 
ful dogs these animals were! When the stranger considers 



42 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

the limited means for an education as well as the associa- 
tions of these dogs, their knowledge and human instinct is 
all the more remarkable. It was a great pity that these 
dumb animals could not have been brought into court and 
made to testify for, doubtless, in their own peculiar w r ay, 
they would have impressed upon the minds of the crowd 
that they at least were willing to tell the truth even if they 
were unable. And w T hat a refreshing spectacle it would have 
been in that court room if even dumb dogs told the truth ! 
But going back to the owner of these dogs, Mr. McCarthy. 
According to his own story he was, on the afternoon of 
Sunday, November 11, 1888, out in the woods near the 
scene of the murder with his gun hunting squirrels. Mr. 
McCarthy was a strict church member, as his testimony 
shows, and he was a little sensitive about being seen out in 
the woods on the first day of the week with a gun over his 
shoulder. He might be suspected of ulterior designs on the 
lower creation. But while out in the woods he heard voices, 
and he was sure the voices were those of Stephen Skidmore 
and Isaac Smith. He did not see anybody, but the voices 
he did hear, and they so disturbed his mental equilibrium 
that when he was put on the witness stand six months after- 
ward he was unable to tell whether he was hunting that day 
with a rifle or shotgun, though he had been acquainted with 
the rifle he carried for twenty years. The hearing of the 
voices was to his mind conclusive evidence that a foul mur- 
der was about to be committed, and that the victim was to be 
Stephen Skidmore. He stays about the place awhile, but 
hears no rifle crack, though he could hear voices and recog- 
nize whose voices they were. The next day his wonderful 
trained dogs made their piteous appeal to him to go with 
them to the spot where the dead body of Skidmore was 
lying. He went down there again, and this time saw tracks. 



— 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 43 

They were elusive at times and again as distinct as the hills. 
He followed them, lost sight of them more than a dozen 
times, only to catch up with them again, and just as he was 
about to run the murderer down he finds the tracks leading 
to within 300 yards of his own house, and he loses all in- 
terest in tracks afterward. It was at least a week after the 
murder that Mr. McCarthy suddenly blossomed out with 
his track story. All this while his great secret lay on his 
conscience like a depot mince pie on the stomach of a travel- 
ing man. The body of Skidmore had been found, the con- 
spirators had already fixed the crime upon Isaac Smith, and 
at the end of a week they had practically woven the web 
which was to grow into a rope for his neck. The Vances 
were not endowed with the greatest of inventive genius, and 
it took them some time to get their evidence together to 
show that Isaac Smith was the guilty man. Far better 
would it have been for the state had subpoenas been issued 
for the intelligent dogs of Henry McCarthy and they 
brought into court and forced to whine and run back and 
forth as they did in the presence of their master. Their 
actions and motions would have conveyed as much meaning 
and intelligence to the jury as did the actions and words of 
the human witnesses on the part of the state. 

A most important witness was Dr. Andre, who made 
the postmortem examination on the body of Skidmore. He 
took the ball from the head, together with three fragments 
and a little piece of patching. It was thready, cotton goods, 
torn in places and covered with blood. The patching was 
washed and placed under a glass to enable the jury to see 
if it compared with the patching in the pouch carried by 
Isaac Smith on the day of the killing. As to the patching, 
there was no testimony, expert or otherwise, on its cor- 
respondence with that carried bv Smith. Dr. Andre himself 



44 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

did not say the pieces were the same. Nobody else claimed 
they were, but this made no difference to the jury. Stephen 
Skidmore had been killed and Isaac Smith was on trial be- 
fore them for the killing. If he was not guilty it was 
plainly his duty to prove he was not. The state was there 
to charge him with the crime, and if he could not prove his 
innocence he must therefore be guilty. This was the logic 
and reasoning that placed a halter ten times about the neck 
of Isaac Smith. This was the "overwhelming preponder- 
ance" of evidence that was to stain the public conscience of 
the State of Ohio with the blood of an innocent man. This 
was the thirty pieces of silver that was to be the price of a 
man's life in a temple of justice above which stood the 
blind Goddess with the even scales in her hand. And well 
was it that her eyes were bandaged that she was spared such 
a spectacle as the traffic in human blood in which the human 
hyenas were engaged. 




CRIME OF TEE STATE. 



45 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE JURY AND SHERIFF. 



Conduct of Sheriff Watkins During the Trial of the Case- 
Testimony for the State and Defense. 



The first week of the trial was altogether in favor of 
the accused, from the standpoint of the evidence, though 
all the testimony so far had been offered by the state. But, 
as will be seen, the state was apparently not depending 
wholly on the evidence introduced. In this respect the state 
had an immense advantage over Isaac Smith. It had charge 
of the witnesses, and, what was still better, control of the 
jury. Better even than this, it had the sheriff on its side, 
and the tender mercies of this sheriff, as has- been shown, 
were positive cruelties. The witnesses were allowed to go to 
their homes, and as a matter of course they talked with 
whomsoever they pleased. Those who had not yet testified 
got the papers and read the testimony of those who had been 
examined. If there was any variance in the stories they 
would have told they had plenty of time to arrange that. 
Meanwhile the jury was kept in charge of the sheriff. It 
was but another case of consigning the bleating lamb to the 
tender compassion of the wolf. The chief instigator of the 
prosecution of Isaac Smith was Sheriff Watkins. His con- 
duct heretofore has been partially related, and it was in his 
hands that the jury was kept. He was constantly with them. 
Between sessions of the court he was their companion. At 



46 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

night he kept them in a room at the hotel, and during court 
recesses he would take them out in the court-yard and other 
places where they might enjoy a little recreation. Here 
were twelve men in whose hands was the life of a friendless 
man without money, and with a misguided public sentiment 
worked up against him by his enemies, who had reasons of 
their own for fastening the crime upon another. Here was 
a sheriff who was to get $500 in case of conviction, and it 
is the universal rule among detectives the world over, that 
where a large reward is placed on one scale and a man's 
life on another, the former will go down. On one occasion 
the jury was in the yard of the jail, very near the cell where 
Isaac Smith and another prisoner, named John Stanton, 
were confined. Both of these men heard the sheriff relat- 
ing to the jury the story of his experience in going to 
Arkansas after Smith. As a matter of course, the sheriff's 
story was elaborated and made as strong against Smith as 
possible. It was a much better and certainly a more ef- 
fective speech against the helpless prisoner than the one 
made by the prosecuting attorney later along. Nor was this 
all that Sheriff Watkins did against the accused. The 
friends of Smith who called were not admitted, though his 
enemies had free ingress whenever they wanted it. Any 
letters directed to Smith, of a favorable character, were 
opened by the sheriff and kept from him. A letter was re- 
ceived from the man in Arkansas for whom Smith was 
working when employed, relating to some truck wheels be- 
longing to Lafayette Taylor, who lived near Smith's old 
home. In this letter the writer says he was referred to 
Taylor by Isaac Smith, who had come to that section and 
did not wish to have any of his people know where he was. 
This letter was mailed to Smith by Mr. Taylor, but the 
sheriff seized it and kept it from the jury, because it was in 



GRIME OF TEE STATE. 47 

Smith's favor. It would have shown that had Isaac Smith 
been guilty of murder in his old home he would not have 
told his employer where he had come from and even re- 
ferred him to a man in that section of the country where 
he had committed murder on a matter so unimportant as 
old truck wheels. Had he been a fugitive murderer he 
would never have allowed a soul to know of his former home. 
The infamous part played by the she-riff was never shown to 
a better advantage than in this Taylor matter. 

A subpoena issued for a witness named Jerry Cartright 
and his wife, who could have testified strongly in behalf of 
Smith, was returned with the information that both were 
dead, when in fact both were living and are living today. 
From start to finish the hand of Sheriff Watkins was on the 
throat of this defenseless man. He was bound to hang the 
miserable man no matter what the cost. There was no 
purpose too base to which he would not prostitute the office 
he held. It remained for the sheriff of Pike county to re- 
fuse service of a subpoena on a man whose testimony might 
save the life of a human being. It remained for him, to 
his everlasting shame, to return such a subpoena stamped with 
perjury and sealed with the blood of a dying, though an in- 
nocent man. I'or the first time since the Magna Charta of 
King John was the right of trial by jury abridged by an 
officer of the court. When every transaction of this sheriff 
is brought out into the public gaze the wonder is not that 
Isaac Smith was legally found guiltv and condemned to 
the gallows, but that the sheriff himself did not issue private 
invitations to a mob to come to the jail and lynch his own 
prisoner. Happv, indeed, was the thought of the county 
commissioners of Pike county when thev offered that re- 
ward of $500 and thereby saved the life of Isaac Smith 
and what was left of the good name of the county. 



48 CRIME OF TEE STATE. 

Reference has been made heretofore to Nate Wallace, 
who also was one of the party at the Indiana saw mill that 
Sunday afternoon, November 11, 1888. A few months 
ago he himself was released from the Ohio penitentiary, not 
through a parole or a pardon, but by expiration of a sen- 
tence richly deserved and righteously imposed by the courts 
of that county, which, after the conviction of Isaac Smith, 
were engaged in sending" such of the state's witnesses in the 
case as had not become fugitives from justice, to the peni- 
tentiary. When the court opened on Monday morning and 
entered upon the second week of the trial a star witness was 
again put upon the stand in the person of Nate Wallace. It 
will be observed that these witnesses were all stars at the 
time, though some of them afterwards were in stripes. 
Wallace was expected to tell some wonderful things about 
what Isaac Smith had told him while he was in the same 
jail under a bogus warrant issued by the direction of the 
sheriff, who expected Smith to tell Wallace all about his 
trip to Cincinnati and his game of cards with Guy Fowler 
in the saloon there. But Isaac Smith had been made aware 
of the purpose of Wallace's incarceration in the same jail 
and would have nothing to do with him, as previously stated. 
Furthermore, Wallace had been warned bv the attornevs 
for the defense that if he testified falselv he would be 
prosecuted for perjury. As a result of these warnings the 
testimony of Wallace, so far as the jail part of the case was 
concerned, was of no account, He related the incidents 
which had occurred at the Indiana saw mill, and of course 
confirmed "Black" Dick Vance's story that Smith and Skid- 
more left the mill together, going the same direction. A 
week after the murder and about five months previous to his 
appearance as a star witness Wallace suddenly developed 
a genius for the occult science known as divination. He 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 49 

professed to have supernatural powers, and in one of his 
trances claimed that he could tell where the pocket-book of 
the murdered man oould be found. He went to a brother 
of Skidmore and described the place. In pursuance of his 
directions Skidmore's brother went to the place, but found 
no pocket-book. Instead he found tracks, which caused a 
great sensation. The people became inflamed, for they then 
thought that the entire story had not been told, and there 
was, in consequence, strong talk of lynching, in which 
Wallace would play a leading role. Wallace was probably 
en the stand fifteen minutes. 

A strong effort was made to show that Isaac Smith 
was addicted to drink and was a common drunkard. All 
the saloon men in the southern part of Pike county and 
the adjoining territory were summoned to give evidence on 
this point, but all of them denied the charge, and, on the 
contrary, stated that Isaac Smith bore the reputation of a 
sober, industrious man. It was also sought to be shown that 
he had had no money at any time in his life. This was dis- 
proved by the testimony of the witnesses for both sides. 
Strange as it may seem, both sides had summoned the same 
witnesses on certain points. One witness, named Dewey, 
testified that he had paid to Isaac Smith three months be- 
fore the sum of $3,500 for lumber sold to him. The other 
witnesses testified to the fact that he had plenty of money 
all the time. This testimony had a most important bearing, 
because it was alleged that the only motive in the killing 
of Stephen Skidmore was robbery, and if it could be shown 
1hat Smith was displaying any great amount of money 
after the killing it would be prima facie evidence at least 
that he had done the killing. This practically closed the 
evidence on both sides for the time being. The witnesses 
for Isaac Smith occupied about two days in giving their 



50 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

side of the story. In all, perhaps, he had summoned twenty. 
Expert testimony was offered to show that it was impossible 
for the accused to have left the mill at 6:10 p. m. on the 
evening of the murder, gone two and a quarter miles east, 
killed Skidmore and then returning west, reached the house 
of his sister-in-law, which was six and three-quarters miles 
away, and all in about fifty minutes. The state had en- 
deavored to show that Smith and Skidmore had left the 
mill a little after 4 o'clock, and, that being the case, he would 
have had plenty of time to have accompanied Skidmore as 
far as he did and then to have returned, reaching the house 
of his sister-in-law at 7 o'clock. But on this, as on nearly 
everything else, the testimony of the state's witnesses was 
conflicting and fatal. The prosecuting attorney seemed 
to have summoned everybody in Pike county who was in 
need of a witness fee and brought them before the jury 
without any knowledge what their testimony would be. 
This was notably the case when the parents of Smith's 
second wife were brought to the witness stand. The father, 
Snively, stated that the patching found in the head of Skid- 
more was exactly the same that he had put in Smith's pouch, 
and further, that nobody had used the gun or pouch after 
that but Smith. When Mrs. Snively was placed on the wit- 
ness stand she flatly contradicted her liege lord, and in an 
emphatic manner told the court and the jury that her hus- 
band had lied. Questioned further, she again affirmed that 
her husband had "lied," and furthermore, he knew he was 
lying when he testified as he did. Expert testimony was also 
offered on the difference in the weight of the bullets, the 
witnesses all declaring that is was impossible for a bullet 
fired into any substance to lose more than five grains of its 
weight. A. witness by the name of Geo. Lock was intro- 
duced over the strenuous objection of the accused, who 



CRIME OF TEE STATE. 51 

insisted that he did not know Lock and Lock did not know 
him, nor could he point him out in the crowded court room. 
Nevertheless the attorneys for Smith insisted on Lock testi- 
fying and he did. He was from the southern part of the 
state, and his testimony claimed to have been acquainted 
with Smith for fifteen years and to have had many business 
transactions with the defendant. He proved a good wit- 
ness, and gave the prisoner a good reputation. This prac- 
tically closed the evidence of the defense, who had shown 
that their client had been at the Indiana saw mill that after- 
noon with Skidmore and the others; that he had left there 
at about 6:15 p. m., going west, where he was to stay all 
that night with his sister-in-law, little Mary Smith; that 
Skidmore had gone his way east, and that good-byes were 
said all around, because Smith was to go to Arkansas the 
next day; that Smith was met on his way to the house of 
little Mary Smith by people on their way to Harman chapel, 
and that he arrived at his sister-in-law's house at seven 
o'clock, three-quarters of an hour after his departure from 
the Indiana saw mill, which was over four miles away. 
The defense had also proved by many witnesses that it was 
a matter of public information that Isaac Smith was on 
the following day going to start to Arkansas, and that his 
original date had been set for a week previous, and that he 
was detained by reason of the illness of his child, as men- 
tioned heretofore. 

It was an unfortunate thing for him that his sister, 
whom he was visiting two days prior to his appearance at the 
Indiana saw mill on the day of the killing, could not be 
brought into court to testify to the fact of his staying there, 
and of his intentions as told her when leaving that day for 
his sister-in-law's house in company with his cousin, 
Stephen Skidmore, who was going along as far as the saw 



w 



52 GRIME OF THE STATE. 

mill. This evidence, in connection with that of his sister- 
in-law that he had arrived there at seven o'clock that even- 
ing, would have been a formidable barrier against the con- 
spirators. Unfortunately, this could not be done on account 
of the serious illness of his sister at the time of the trial. 
The testimony of Jerry Cartright and wife, whom he met 
on the road and with whom he conversed between the hours 
of six and seven would also have been important. But, as 
stated elsewhere, Sheriff Watkins reported this witness and 
his wife both dead. It was only several years after that 
Smith found out that they were both alive. Previous to 
the introduction of the evidence for the defense the prose- 
cution had stated that they had one more witness yet to 
testify and, as he was not in the state, they asked permission 
to introduce his testimony later. This was agreed to after 
the witnesses for both sides had been discharged to save 
expense. This witness, his testimony, his character, his 
motive, his associates, the price of his testimony, the part he 
played in the conspiracy, mil be detailed in the next chapter. 
He was the star of greatest magnitude. He shone with a 
lustre compared to which the lustre of Watkins was a tallow 
dip alongside of a forty thousand candle power electric 
light. Without his perjury Isaac Smith would have gone 
free. Without him the greatest trial the county ever had 
would have ended in a ludicrous farce, and the men who 
engineered it would have been laughed out of the country 
and out of their profession. This was the box car witness, 
Guy Fowler. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 53 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GUYON FOWLER. 



The Box-Car Witness in the Trial and Conviction of Isaac 
Smith — The Part Assigned to Him to Play in the Great 
Drama Given in the Pike County Court House — Fowler's 
Motives in Getting Isaac Smith Out of the Way. 



For effrontery, baseness, perjury and natural depravity 
Guy Fowler, on whose evidence alone Isaac Smith w^as sent 
to the gallows, stands alone without a peer in moral 
monstrosity. He was the unclean monster introduced into 
the case first by the Yances and afterward taken up by 
Sheriff Wat-kins and made useful to the conspiracy in the 
Crime of the State. Fowler was of a repulsive appearance. 
He had red hair and a countenance that w T as indicative of 
evil and wickedness. By occupation he was a laborer, and 
at the time of the murder he was employed as a bridge man 
at Newton, down the road from Harden, on the 
railroad. He lived at Harden, however, going back and 
forth to his work each day on the train. He was well ac- 
quainted with the Yances and with Nate Wallace. They 
were all birds of the same feather. Fowler's morals were as 
low as his intellect. Prior to the murder and, it is said, 
without denial, prior to the marriage of Isaac Smith with 
Nellie Snively early in the year 1888, Guy Fowler's at- 
tentions to her w T ere such as to excite public comment. 
This was particularly the case after her marriage to Smith 



54 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

which, on his part, was one of dutv to his lonely little girl, 
Essie May. These attentions even attracted the notice of 
Smith, who was necessarily away from home most of the 
time. On one occasion he drove with his wife to a picnic 
some miles away. Arriving at the grove the wife disap- 
peared and was gone all day until dark with Fowler. Re- 
turning, she requested her husband to drive home, which he 
did, but without her. That was the last time he ever saw 
her. It was then that he made up his mind to leave the 
country and find a home elsewhere. At the time of the 
trial she was pregnant and Smith felt that he was not the 
father of the child about to be born. When it was born 
the color of the hair was a fiery red, which corresponded with 
the hair of Fowler. There was not a member of Smith's 
family nor the family of his wife who had red hair. Perjury, 
as was afterwards shown by affidavits presented to the board 
of pardons, was not the only accomplishment possessed by 
Guy Fowler. He had in his time been a forger, though not 
more skillful in that than he had been in perjury, when 
testifying against Isaac Smith. 

This, then, was the witness upon whom the state relied 
for conviction. And the prosecution in this respect was 
not disappointed, for Fowler fulfilled every expectation. 
His story on the stand indicated that he had been drilled 
to the limit of his capacity to understand. On the Monday 
noon following the day of the killing of Skidmore he had 
boarded the. train at Newtown, some miles down the road 
from Rarden and where he was employed on a bridge. On 
the same train he meets Isaac Smith and the two go to Cin- 
cinnati. Thev stop at the same hotel and sleep in the same 
room. During the evening they visit the city, stopping at 
various places and at one time engage in a game of cards 
when he wins $115 of Smith's monev. This he gives back 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 55 

the next morning when he separates from Smith and returns 
to his work at Newtown. It is on the way back that he tells 
conductor Cain of his meeting with Isaac Smith in Cincin- 
nati the previous night and of the confession the latter makes 
to him about killing his cousin, Stephen Skidinore, and was 
in consequence running away to Arkansas to escape the 
punishment. It was Conductor Cain who inquires of Mr. 
Scott, the station agent at Harden, who was killed, and in 
this manner the disappearance of Skidmore is noted. The 
search that follows leads to the finding of his dead body in 
the manner already described. At Cincinnati Smith and 
Fowler conversed freely. It was during the night that 
Fowler claims Smith had tried to sell him a note of Stephen 
Skidmore amounting to $65, and then latterly says that 
Smith had confessed to killing Skidmore. In this respect 
Fowler seems to have got the cart before the horse, for in 
his alleged confession Smith shows the note before he had 
ever said he had killed anybody that had any note, and 
when he did tell Fowler, as the latter claimed, that he had 
killed some one, he did not say that that "some one" had 
any note. Fowler insisted that Smith had made a complete 
confession to him — a man whose amours with the wife of 
Smith at that very time was the cause of the latter leaving 
his, home, his child and his friends, and enters into several 
details to show the credibility of the affair. He shows 
Fowler the note he had taken from Skidmore's pocket-book 
and letters from his person, and in short makes a clean breast 
of it. This was confirmatory of the diabolical telegram 
from Sheriff Watkins in Arkansas telling of the arrest of 
Smith and the finding on his person of the pocket-book and 
other personal effects of the murdered man. With this 
story the public was acquainted no less than the jury, and the 
recital of the same by Guy Fowler furnished the connecting 



55 CRIME OF TEE STATE. 

link that bound Isaac Smith to the gallows. More than a 
year later, when Isaac Smith had been carted off to the Ohio 
penitentiary a condemned murderer, when his ears had 
become dulled to the horrid thud of his associates in the 
annex dropping through the fatal trap in the adjoining room 
to eternity, when he had suffered mental and physical tor- 
ture so keen and exquisite that the horrors of an inquisition 
were but the refinement of pleasure in comparison, this note 
and the pocket-book in which Skidmore kept it were found 
in Pike county in the church known as Harman chapel, and 
but a short distance from the spot where Stephen Skidmore 
was shot down by his assasins. Both showed the effects of 
the weather and the exposure to the sun and rain. But they 
were the property of Stephen Skidmore just the same. 
With this finding, where was the testimony of Guy Fowler, 
and where was Sheriff James H. Watkins with his Arkansas 
telegram? If he has not repented of his monstrous crime 
against an innocent man let him know that it is not too late. 
Let him fall upon his knees and beseech a merciful God 
to hear and listen to his prayer for mercy and forgiveness. 
Let him know that even at the eleventh hour the contrite 
spirit of a repentant sinner may find peace with its maker 
and be at rest in the bosom of God. 

When the trial began Guy Fowler disappeared, to the 
consternation of the state and Sheriff Watkins. He could 
not be found, but before the close, private word was re- 
ceived from him at Chicago. Fowler being in the con- 
spiracy from its earliest inception, well understood that 
without him there could not be a conviction. Immediately 
upon the receipt of the letter Sheriff Watkins telegraphs 
him to come to Columbus, O., where he would meet him 
and make arrangements for his testimony. These arrange- 
ments were later brought out by the attorneys for the de- 
fense. Pursuant to agreement Fowler came to Columbus, 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 57 

where Watkins met him; just what transpired at this meet- 
ing was never known exactly. At any rate Fowler ac- 
companied the sheriff to Pike county, reaching there before 
the state was through with its witnesses. By some arrange- 
ment Fowler's presence in Waverly was to be kept a pro- 
found secret, and in pursuance of the plan the witness was 
concealed for four days in a box car, where his physical wants 
were cared for by the sheriff. The deception practiced by 
the state in reference to this box-car witness will ever re- 
main a discredit to the commonwealth of Ohio. When the 
state asked that the witnesses for both sides be discharged 
and that it have leave to introduce one more witness who 
was not in the state, a wilfull and disgraceful deception 
was being practiced on the defense, who did not know who 
the witness was to be. The purpose of this request became 
evident later along when the defense asked the court for the 
delay of one day to impeach Fowler as a witness. This the 
court denied them. Then they asked for half a day to show 
the unstable and gross character of the box-car witness. 
This also was denied them. The court was willing to permit 
direct examination after the witnesses had been discharged, 
but unwilling to allow a rebuttal when it could have been 
easilv established that Fowler's storv was, with a few ex- 
ceptions, a lie from beginning to end. When the rules of 
evidence had thus been violated and judicial sanction given 
legal murder, the fate of Isaac Smith seemed sealed. And 
so Fowler proceeded wdth his story and acted the part as- 
signed him. On cross-examination he made a poor showing. 
The nature of the interview he had with Sheriff Watkins in 
Columbus was brought out. He frankly admitted that he 
had received $100 in cash from Watkins and railroad fare. 
It was further shown that while in Chicago, where he 
went so he could make better terms with the state, he had 



58 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

refused to return and testify, telling the prosecution that 
without him they could not convict, and that the only con- 
sideration that would tempt him from his vantage ground 
would be half the reward of $500 offered bv the county 
for the conviction of the murderer of Stephen Skidmore. 
For this pitiful sum Guy Fowler sat in the witness chair and 
calmly swore away the life of the man whose home he had 
ruined and whom he was anxious to have well out of the 
way. Fowler did not kill Stephen Skidmore. But in the 
varied situations that grew out of that horrid murder he 
happened to be one of several who would be benefitted by 
the removal of Isaac Smith. He was not satisfied with 
Arkansas. Nothing short of eternitv would do him. The 
Vances, too, thought Arkansas was too easily reached, and 
that eternity would answer all practical purposes in the 
way of distances. Just why they entertained these views 
will be made plainer in another chapter. It is easy to 
understand why the Vances and Fowler happened to join 
hands with Sheriff Watkins, who wanted $500 and the 
glory attached to the getting of it. 
Three crows sat on a tree 
And they were black as crows could be. 






CRIME OF THE STATE. 



59 



CHAPTER IX 



VERDICT AND SENTENCE. 



Arguments of the Learned Counsel for Both Sides Consume 

Two Days — The Judge Charges the Jury, Which Retires 
and Finds a Verdict of Guilty in Three Hours. 



Two days were occupied by the able counsel in ar- 
guing to the jury that Isaac Smith did kill Stephen Skid- 
more and that he did not kill him. On behalf of the state 
Geo. Cole opened, making tile usual claim as to what the 
evidence from his point of view showed. He was followed 
by John A. Eylar, for the defense, who consumed a half day 
in reading authorities on circumstantial evidence. At the 
conclusion of his argument D. W. James took up the case 
for the defendant and made one of the grandest speeches 
ever heard in Pike county. He took up the testimony of the 
perjured witnesses and literally tore it into shreds. Un- 
mercifully did he score the corrupt and purchased evidence 
offered by the state, and when he had concluded the chances 
were about even that Isaac Smith would be declared an inno- 
cent man. The state then closed with an argument from 
John T. Moore, which was not so much of an argument as 
it was a lack of argument, made up, however, with volumes 
of abuse and vituperation. There was hardly anything that 
he left unsaid about the defendant. Cole charged that be- 
fore Smith was seven years old he had already killed two 



50 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

men, The legal rights of the helpless prisoner were ignored 
and trampled upon. Testimony was thrown to the winds. 
The lawyer in the ten days of the trial had correctly gauged 
the caliber of the jury and rightly judged that a vigorous 
cudgeling of the defendant without regard to the testimony 
would be the very sort of argument they would most ap- 
preciate. Two-thirds of the jury were incapable of retain- 
ing evidence for a longer period than twenty-four hours, 
and it was a small matter for the smart counsel to make 
them believe that everything he had said had been sub- 
stantiated by credible witnesses, when, in fact, his speech 
had no dealings with the testimony. His bitter invective 
against the prisoner and terrible arraignment for crimes that 
he had never dreamed of, much less committed, had a 
powerful effect on the jury, who sat in their box like so 
many straw men, swayed by every wind that came along. 
Moore's argument did the business for Isaac Smith. His 
loud bawling was mistaken by the jury for great learning. 
His accusations against the character of the defendant were 
accepted as the keen analysis of a Websterian mind. His 
flourish of hands and head was construed to be the natural 
workings dte a born genius. To that ignorant, unlettered 
jury Moore seemed ten feet high and growing every minute. 
There was something of the ferocity of the American savage 
in the diabolism of Moore's assaults on the helpless prisoner. 
They were not unlike the scenes that followed the capture 
of an early settler by the Indians and the arrival of the 
party at the Indian village, where the prisoner, worn out by 
a long and forced march, hungry, weak and footsore, is 
compelled to run the gauntlet of the venomous squaws and 
cubs who, standing in a parallel line, compel the prisoner to 
run through the middle to a post, while they hack him with 
their tomahawks, beat him with their clubs and blind him 



CRIME OF TEE STATE. 61 

with showers of sand until he either falls helpless at their 
feet or makes good his dash for the pole of the council 
house. Such was the conduct of Moore after Isaac Smith had 
withstood the treatment of the men and was turned over to 
this squaw lawyer, who was to shower upon his hapless head 
the raspings of a female virago. Then followed the charge 
of the court and the jury retired to their room for delibera- 
tion. Within three hours they announced that a verdict 
had been reached. A painful silence fell upon that court 
room as the twelve men entered the court and filed into the 
jury box once more. The preacher foreman held in his 
hand the fateful document that might mean much or little 
to Isaac Smith. It was turned over to the clerk, who calmly 
opened it and read that the jury, after due deliberation, 
found that Stephen Skidmore came to his death at the hands 
of Isaac Smith, who was therefore guilty of murder in the 
first degree. With the announcement of the verdict also 
came the information respecting the exact number of jurors 
who could read and write. Four of the twelve were for 
acquittal, three were for second degree, four for man- 
slaughter and one for first degree. The preacher held out 
for first degree, and finally, through his appeals, the others 
came to his side, and Isaac Smith was started on his journey 
tc the annex and eternity. A motion for a new trial was 
made, and in a week overruled. Sentence was then passed 
upon the prisoner, who was to be taken to the annex of the 
Ohio penitentiary and there, on the 23d day of August, 
1889, he was to be hung by the neck until dead. In sen- 
tencing the prisoner the judge for the first time displayed 
some leniency toward the condemned. He allowed the 
latter 109 days to live when the law permitted him but 100. 
The magnanimity of the court made a deep impression on 
the mind of Smith, and often in the silent watches of the 



62 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

annex night he breathed a silent prayer that he would 
never meet the court in the next world. Through chance, 
rather than through choice, he had been the temporary as- 
sociate of men like the Vances, Fowler, Wallace and Wat- 
kins, to say nothing about the men he met on his first arrival 
in the capital of the state; but that was no reason, to his 
mind, why he should be forced upon the society of courts 
and juries in the world beyond, particularly if he had made 
an ample atonement before leaving this one. Sheriff Wat- 
kins, after the court had overruled the motion, made up 
his mind to deliver Smith to the state authorities as soon as 
possible. Four days after his sentence the sheriff notified 
him to get ready for the trip that was to be his last. 

Before going, the mother-in-law of the condemned 
came to see him, bringing the little girl, Essie May, who 
was then about three years old. Although they had 
traveled fifty miles to take their last look, as they supposed, 
upon the face of the father, the hard-hearted sheriff refused 
to allow them more than fifteen minutes to say farewell for 
this earth. When the condemned man took his child into 
his arms at the end of the fifteen minutes and pressed one 
last kiss upon the lips of the orphan soon to be, as he sup- 
posed, and felt the little arms still clinging to his neck as 
the child was being taken from him forever, then for the 
first time Isaac Smith felt the bitterness of death. He could 
not say with Paul, O, death, where is thy sting? 0, grave, 
where is thy victory? 

True to his former course in bringing Smith from 
Arkansas, Sheriff Watkins was not going to allow a grand 
opportunity to go by him without a display. He looked 
carefully over Pike county and could find nobody who would 
answer the purpose of a guard for escort duty to Columbus, 
so he sent down into Scioto county and got a man there. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 53 

On May 8 Isaac Smith, in company with one of his lawyers, 
and in charge of Sheriff Watkins and the Scioto county 
guard, started for the penitentiary. This gloomy bastile 
was reached at four o'clock in the afternoon. Warden 
Coffin met the party in the guard room, where the prisoner 
was relieved of his valuables and started down the long 
corridor toward the annex. When he entered the great 
prison, for the first time since his arrest, he received a kind 
word from an officer. This was from Warden Coffin him- 
self, who spoke encouragingly to the new arrival and ac- 
companied him to the annex. Then for the first time his 
eyes fell upon the awful instrument of death as he passed 
under it on his way to his iron cell, where he was to spend 
the few remaining weeks of his life. The iron door of the 
cage opened to receive him, and as it clanged shut its 
metallic ring seemed to the doomed man like the solemn 
toll of a church bell of the village as the funeral cortege 
slowly winds its way with its burden of mortality to the 
tomb. 

Dusk, then darkness, enveloped the gloomy annex, and 
the troubled spirit of the doomed man wandered into dream- 
land, now T hovering o'er the green grave of the wife whose 
days were few, and now bending in fondness at the couch 
of the little one whom the law was soon to make an orphan, 
and ever and anon waking with rude start at the awful 
spectre of the dangling rope swinging over his pillow. His 
first night was one of horror and dread. Better the cruelty 
of men than the lonely vigil in the long hours of the night 
with one's thoughts. Truly had the enemies of Isaac Smith 
brought him to the verge of an open grave. Little did they 
know — little did anybody know or care — that this was but 
the beginning of the end of the most infamous, the most 
diabolical conspiracy of the age. 




THE " ANNEX CAGE 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 65 



CHAPTER X 



CIRCUIT AND SUPREME COURT. 



The First Court Refuses a New Trial and the Second 
Body, After Reaching the Same Conclusion, Makes a 
Remarkable Reqitest of the Ohio General Assembly, 
Which Takes a Vote on the Smith Case. 



The admission of a man condemned to die to the annex 
of the penitentiary does not necessarily mean that he will 
be hung. This has been demonstrated on several occasions 
since the state law provided for executions at the peniten- 
tiary. When Isaac Smith arrived at the great prison on that 
afternoon in May, 1889, he had no thought of becoming 
resigned to his fate. He was then removed from his 
•(enemies and brought before a larger court, where there 
were people ready and willing to give him the opportunity 
denied him at home to establish his innocence of the crime 
charged against him. One of the singular features of his 
case wais that while, with a single exception, none of the 
new evidence produced in his favor would have been ad- 
missible in a court, it was none the less powerful and re- 
liable. As stated elsewhere in this book, conditions were 
reversed in the case of the prisoner. He went to trial a 
guilty man in the eyes of practically the entire population 
of Pike county. No effort was made to lynch him, it is 
true, as the people seemed to be willing to give him a chance 
to prove his innocence if he could. To the majority of per- 



66 GRIME OF THE STATE. 

sons in that county it never occurred that it was the duty of 
the state to show beyond any doubt that he was guilty. In 
the eyes of the law Isaac Smith was an innocent man until 
the state was able to establish his connection with the crime 
beyond any question. But neither law nor evidence seemed 
to cut much of a figure in the courts of Pike county so far as 
this trial was concerned. Everybody believed that Isaac 
Smith was guilty, and hence it was but the most natural 
thing in the world for a jury to find him guilty and a court 
to pass sentence after denying him his rights in the way of 
rebuttal and other evidence that might have influenced 
even such an ignorant jury as the one that convicted him. 

It seems incredible at this distance from the crime 
that any accused man should have been convicted on such 
testimony as was offered, and more incredible still, in the 
face of the evidence that was produced before the board 
of pardons and the Governor. Yet, as stated, but little of 
this evidence could have been submitted in a court. The 
charge of murder was placed against Isaac Smith. He was 
compelled to clear himself of that charge rather than the 
state should prove his guilt. Under the rules of evidence 
it was not possible for him to produce facts that would 
clearly tend to establish his own innocence by pointing at 
the guilt of others who might have strong motives for doing 
the killing themselves. It would have been much easier 
to have brought conviction home to the door of Guy Fowler 
and the Vances than it was to have accomplished the same 
thing for Isaac Smith. But this could not have been done 
at the time. It was necessary that the real murderers of 
Stephen Skidmore so manipulate matters that the crime be 
fixed on some one else, and a motive ascribed for some 
one else committing the crime. Once that the public mind 
could be directed on another party as the murderer, the 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 57 

genuine murderers would be free from suspicion and be 
enabled to join their forces with those of the state in con- 
victing somebody else. Once that a conviction was secured 
they would be forever free from any molestation beyond 
the silent reproaches of conscience, and it was never 
shown that the Vances were much troubled with 
conscience, though, as will be shown later along, 
"Black Dick" Vance, when under arrest at Waverly 
for drunkenness, confessed to his complicity in the 
murder of Skidmore, and asked those who had charge of 
him to send for "Yellow Dick" Vance, who was then, as 
now, a fugative from that section of the country, and who, 
in a letter to "Black Dick" after his departure, admitted 
killing a man somewhere in West Virginia. With men like 
the Vances murder was but a mere pastime. At least that 
was the statement in effect once made by "Black Dick" 
when referring to "Yellow Dick." 

On July 24 Messrs. Eylar and James carried the case 
to the Circuit court and began the battle for the life of 
Isaac Smith in earnest. Four days were consumed in the 
hearing of the case, and the decision resulted in a refusal 
of the court to grant a new trial. The court was divided, 
one judge favoring a new trial, while two were opposed. 
Circuit courts, as a rule, are opposed to any reversal of a 
lower court in a criminal case. The judges are not disposed 
to take on any more work than is absolutely necessary, and 
they profess to believe that the court below knew its own 
business, and at least if it did not, the jury of twelve men 
could not have been in error after listening to the evidence 
under instructions from the court as to legal points. A 
circuit court is a useless appendage to the judiciary of the 
state anyhow in the opinion of most people. It had its 
origin in the craze for office creating a few years ago when 



68 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

the wise men sent to the legislature were convinced that the 
welfare iand happiness of the people could be better con- 
served and advanced in the creation of more offices. Law- 
yers in legislative bodies are apt to consider their own in- 
terests when legislating for the dear people. The habit of 
statesmen breaking into legislative bodies for the purpose 
of "gerrymandering" legislation, whether for a seat in con- 
gress or on the bench, is too well known and understood 
to require extended mention here. On July 28 the Circuit 
court decided against Smith. Under the sentence of the 
Pike county court he was billed to appear in a one-night 
engagement as leading actor in the annex of the Ohio 
penitentiary on the night of August 23, which was then 
less than four weeks away. So far everything had gone 
against him. Nothing daunted, however, his lawyers ap- 
pealed to the Supreme court of the state, and here for the 
first time a ray of light broke through the darkness and a 
bow of promise rose in the distant horizon of his hopes. 

The Supreme court was not in session at this time, 
being midsummer. But under an arrangement the case was 
heard in Chillicothe, where the attorneys of the doomed 
man made a gallant fight for a stay of execution. In this 
they were successful, securing a stay that was to be in- 
definite, asf the court was not to meet until November 1 
of the same year. Needless to say that when this news 
reached Pike county the enemies of Isaac Smith were wild. 
The Supreme court was denounced in vigorous terms and 
the judges assailed with all kinds of charges. The thirst 
for blood on the part of the Pike county contingent grew so 
keen as to amount almost to a ferocity. In presenting the 
matter to the Supremo court when it again convened, the 
attorneys for Isaac Smith proposed that the new evidence 
that had been found should be brought to the fore as one 






CRIME OF THE STATE. 59 

ground for a new trial. But in attempting to do this an 
error in the omission of an important fact was. made which 
rendered the Supreme court powerless to act. The new 
evidence discovered was extremely important and had a 
powerful bearing not only on popular opinion in Columbus, 
but even in Pike county, where the friends of Smith were 
increasing with each new development of the celebrated 
case. It was recalled that Nate Wallace, who was one of 
the party that composed the gathering on November 11, 
1888, when the fatal game of cards was played in the 
Indiana saw mill, had, a few weeks after his flight to West 
Virginia with " Yellow Dick" Vance, and following his 
return, pretended to be able to tell fortunes, and to some 
had said that he could tell where the pocket book of Stephen 
Skidmore was. He directed the relatives of Skidmore where 
to go, and when they did so they found nothing but tracks, 
indicating that Wallace did know where the book was and 
that he or some one else might have removed it. In conse- 
quence of this incident there was strong talk of lynching 
Wallace for a time afterwards. This was the last heard of 
that pocket-book for nearly a year. Then the identical 
book, with the papers it contained when in the possession 
of Skidmore, was found in the Harman chapel, not a half 
mile from the scene of the murder, and this, be it remem- 
bered, long after Smith had been in the annex waiting 
execution. This famous pocket-book, which was brought 
to this city, and which has since disappeared from the office 
of the Governor contained the identical note which Guy 
Fowler swore on the witness stand in Pike county Smith had 
offered to sell him when they spent that night in Cincinnati, 
November 12, 1888. Not only did the book contain the 
Skidmore note, but it was wrapped with a paper, saying: 
"Don't hang Isaac Smith, for he is an innocent man." The 






7 crime of tee state. 

failure of the attorney of Smith to bring this before the 
court resulted in an adverse decision against him in Feb- 
ruary , 1890, two of the judges favoring him, while three 
were opposed to any interference. This bill was accord- 
ingly introduced by Hon. Nial R. Hysell, now a senator 
from this district, and at that time speaker of the House of 
Representatives. Mr. Hysell championed the measure with 
his usual logic and eloquence and brought to bear on the 
subject great learning and a profound knowledge of the 
constitutional rights of the individual. But the session was 
then far advanced and the members were with difficulty 
restrained from leaving for their homes. When the bill 
came up for discussion and passage there were but 77 mem- 
bers present out of 109. It had for its champions besides 
Mr. Hysell, men like Green, of Cuyahoga, and Cole, of 
Portsmouth, and Judge W. B. Crew. It was unanimously 
recommended by the Judiciary Committee. Despite the 
efforts of the friends of the measure the bill failed to receive 
the constitutional majority, getting 52 votes, with 25 against 
it. Nearly every lawyer in the House favored the measure, 
while of those opposing the majority were farmers. The 
second date of the execution was now set for June 20, 1890. 
For Isaac Smith events were "now swiftly reaching a cul- 
mination. 



. 




EDGAR B. KINKEAD. 

(Professor of Pleadings, Practice, Torts and Criminal Law, Ohio 

State University.) 



72 CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER XI 



ISAAC SMITH'S SAVIOR. 



For the First Time Edgar B. Kinkead, "Who Saved the 
Life of Smith, Appears on the Scene — Remarkable 
Interview in the Annex Between the Governor and the 
Condemned Man. 



In February, 1890, Isaac Smith first met the man 
who eventually saved his life beyond any and all question. 
At that time there was in the Supreme court of the state 
a young lawyer of studious mien and analytic mind. He 
was connected with the court in the capacity of Law Li- 
brarian, and among other duties belonging to his station 
was the delivery of the mandates of the court in certain 
Cases. It so happened that when the Supreme court found 
itself unable to do anything for Isaac Smith that it fell to 
the lot of Edgar B. Kinkead, the lawyer in question and the 
librarian mentioned, to serve the notice of the action of the 
court in the Smith matter on the prisoner or the warden of 
the penitentiary. In the discharge of this function, Mr. 
Kinkead called at the penitentiary to deliver his message of 
death. While there he called at the annex, where the con- 
demned man was confined, and had a long talk with him. 
He became impressed with the manner of the condemned. 
From such an impression as was then made on his mind it 
was but a short distance to absolute conviction that the 
man awaiting the law's vengeance was not the guilty man. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 73 

It seems that even at that moment some invisible agency 
was present to say to the latter that here was the man 
destined to save the life that had been so ruthlessly con- 
demned in his own county. The two men parted for the 
day to meet again by prearrangement on the following 
day. When they again saw each other on that occasion it 
was arranged that Mr. Kinkead should assume the manage- 
ment of the case, which he did after consulting the wishes 
of Messrs. James and Eylar, who were willing that nothing 
should be left undone to save the life of their client. 

The refusal of the Circuit court to grant a new trial, 
coupled with the inability of the Supreme court to act on 
the matter for the reasons just stated, convinced Mr. Kin- 
kead, as well as his client, that relief must come, if it did 
come at all, from sources other than the courts. It was ad- 
mitted by both that a commutation of sentence would be the 
very best thing that could be done under the circumstances, 
and to that end they would all employ their forces and in- 
fluences. With such a plan marked out and agreed upon 
the work of rescuing Isaac Smith from the gallows was re- 
newed with additional energy under a new generalship 
which was, after a long and bitter struggle, to end so glor- 
iously for him, and in such a complete route and overthrow 
of the conspirators who, for reasons that every one is at 
liberty to think for himself, had interested themselves to the 
extent they did in not only securing a conviction of an in- 
nocent man, but in having the mandate of the law actually 
executed. It is not often that the officers of the court as 
well as others pursue their victim to the very foot of the 
gallows, there to gloat over his agony as they listen to the 
death rattle of his throat beneath the awful trap. 

On March 4, through the labors of Mr. Kinkead, Gov- 
ernor James E. Campbell called a special session of the 



74 * CRIME OF THE STATE. 

board of pardons to consider the Smith case. In the mean- 
time the Governor had been appealed to" for a stay of the 
execution of the sentence pending a thorough investigation 
of the case by the board. This he consented to do and gave 
the prisoner another lease on life until April 25, 1890. 
The board again met on April 13, and once more took up 
the Smith case. At this meeting an affidavit was read from 
the wife of Isaac Smith in the main corroborating the testi- 
mony of Guy Fowler. When this was read the case against 
Smith looked darker than it had ever appeared, but out of 
this blackness there was soon to burst a light that was in 
reality the beginning of the end. For the first time in a 
legal sense the motives of one of the conspirators against 
Smith became apparent. This was the motive of Guy 
Fowler, on whose evidence the conviction of Smith had been 
secured. 

The Board of Pardons suspecting that something was 
wrong when even the wife of the prisoner would thus un- 
necessarily go out of her way to fasten a halter about the 
neck of her husband, instituted an investigation, and found, 
to their own satisfaction at least, that Mrs. Smith 'and Guy 
Fowler were practically living in a state of adultery, and 
forthwith they voted without a dissenting voice for the 
commutation of the sentence of Isaac Smith to imprison- 
ment for life. In making his first argument before the 
board Attorney Kinkead undoubtedly made a deep impres- 
sion on the members wiien he took up the conduct of Sheriff 
Watkins in securing a conviction. He brought out very 
clearly the action of the latter in telegraphing from Ar- 
kansas that he not only had the prisoner, but had also found 
on his person the pocket-book and the note which Fowler 
had said Smith tried to sell him a week or more before in 
Cincinnati. This information, which was an atrocious and 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 75 

willful lie, was printed in the Pike county newspapers 
owned by the prosecutors and circulated all over the county. 
It was never contradicted for the simple reason that there 
was nobody to contradict it. For this monstrous sin against 
the life of Isaac Smith there must yet be atonement for 
James H. Watkins. At this time Isaac Smith had but two 
weeks of life remaining to him. The action of the Pardon 
Board did not act in a mandatory sense upon the Governor. 
The power of life or death still rested in his hands, and he 
could either commute the prisoner to life imprisonment, 
hang him or turn him out without any charge against him. 
The afternoon of the execution of the sentence, Governor 
Campbell who, at this time was deeply interested in the 
case, called at the state prison. He was accompanied by the 
Attorney General, and the two held a long and earnest con- 
ference with the condemned. The latter was subjected to 
the keenest cross-examinations and every conceivable ques- 
tion put to him that either the Governor or the Attorney 
General could think about. To each and all of them the 
prisoner made perfectly clear and straightforward answers. 
His story was as true as the north star to the pole, and made 
a deep impression on the visitors. As the Governor was 
leaving he turned to Isaac Smith and said: "Your case is 
not a half-way one. You are either guilty or innocent, and 
I am going to make a thorough investigation, and should I 
find the evidence unreliable, I am going to turn you out, but 
if not I will leave you remain where you are." To this re- 
markable statement of the Governor of the State of Ohio 
to a man condemned to the gallows and already respited 
several times, Isaac Smith replied: "Governor, that is the 
very thing I want you to do. I am perfectly willing to trust 
to an honest investigation by people who are neither my 
friends nor my enemies in this case." "Then," said the 



76 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

Governor, "I will give you another lease of life until June 
20." So saying, he departed from the annex and returned 
to the State House. To Isaac Smith this visit was of the 
utmost importance. The interview occurred at 3 o'clock 
in the afternoon, and just nine hours later he was expecting 
to go through the trap. At this period of his career a 
most unfortunate event happened to him, and one which 
brought him many hours of agony and suffering beyond 
what it is the lot of mortals to endure in this life. This was 
the retirement of the good Warden Coffin and his wife 
and the accession of Warden Dyer, who, like David, was 
a man of blood, whom the Lord God would not suffer to 
build his holy temple on the summit of Mt. Moriah, and 
reserved the work for the son of David in the person of 
Solomon the Wise. Warden Dyer, in his treatment of 
Isaac Smith, had but one counterpart, and that was Sheriff 
Watkins, both of whom thirsted for the blood of Smith as 
hyenas and tigers hunger after their victim in the wilds 
and jungles of the Orient. It fell to the lot of Warden 
Dyer to glut his thirst for blood, for he hanged many men 
in the course of his administration and died soon after his 
retirement to private life from a cancer of the face after 
suffering a torture only equalled by the suffering he in- 
flicted on Isaac Smith when he ordered him to the death cell 
and only informed him of the favorable action of the ex- 
ecutive a few minutes before the death sentence was to be 
carried out. In addition to this awful suffering he endured, 
financial misfortunes overtook him and he left his family 
practically destitute, though in his life time he was reputed 
to be worth at least $100,000. Kespites now became a 
common thing with Isaac Smith. From this time on to 
October but little was heard of the case, but while men may 
come and may go, respites in this case went on forever ap- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 77 

parently. A respite was given to August 29, through, the 
labors of Mr. Kinkead, and again through the same in- 
defatigable endeaver still another to October 24. But little 
of practical value was learned during these summer months, 
both the friends and the foes of the prisoner seemingly 
resting on their arms and waiting for cooler weather. In 
the meantime a new and a powerful friend was rising up for 
the doomed man. It is a noteworthy fact that as time went 
by new and valuable friends were constantly appearing in 
the case, and each one labored with a zeal born of a con- 
viction that a great crime was being perpetrated in the good 
name of the State of Ohio, and it was the duty of every citi- 
zen to do his utmost not only saving; the fair name of the 
state, but also the life of the unhappy man whose days and 
nights were spent under the shadow of the gallows behind 
the vast and gloomy walls of the state's prison. In this city 
the enemy of Isaac Smith was the warden of the peniten- 
tiary, while in Pike county his enemy was Sheriff Watkins, 
backed by the triumvir of murderers whose own necks were 
in danger with Isaac Smith a free man, if their own flight 
and the confession of themselves and their friends amounted 
to anything. Events of vast import were close at hand in 
which the heart of the entire state was swayed with a 
wonderful feeling in the case in behalf of the Prisoner. 




78 CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER XII 



NEW-FOUND FRIENDS. 



J. M. Hays, of Columbus, Becomes Interested in the Case 
and Renders Assistance That Had Much to do in Sav- 
ing the life of the Condemned Man — Detective Brown's 
Trip to the Scene of the Murder. 



Some time in February, 1890, when Isaac Smith, in 
charge of his death watch, was taking an outing in the 
penitentiary yards, he became acquainted with Mr. J. M. 
Hays, of tjhis city, who at that time was conducting a large 
meat market in the city, and who is now proprietor of a 
restaurant at 587 North High street, in the Park Hotel 
building. Mr. Hays at once became interested in the case 
and began to make some investigations of his own. The 
farther he went the more he became convinced that Isaac 
Smith was not the slayer of his cousin, Stephen Skidmore. 
Among his friends were Detectives T. E. Foster and J. A. 
Brown, whom Mr. Hays induced to become interested the 
game as himself. Mr. Brown, however, took no active interest 
in the hunt for evidence until early in October of the same 
year, nearly six months later. On Saturday, October 11, 
1890, Mr. Brown was reading the newspapers when he 
noticed that Governor Campbell had indicated to Mr. Kin- 
kead that unless some very important evidence was speedily 
forthcoming he could no longer stand between his client 
and the gallows. Mr. Brown was deeply interested in a 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 79 

moment. He consulted with his associate, Mr. Foster, and 
the two then called on Mr. Kinkead at his residence on Oak 
street, where the latter strongly urged that the detectives 
make a trip into the vicinity of the murder and see if some- 
thing could not be done. They also called on the condemned, 
and as a result, Mr. Brown, on the morning of October 13, 
started for Earden, reaching there at four o'clock in the 
afternoon of the same day. He first called on Mr. A. For- 
sythe, who had rendered considerable assistance in the case, 
and by him he was given a horse and buggy and taken to the 
residence of Milton Mustard, a brother-in-law of Smith, 
where he remained over night. 

The importance of the success of his trip was patent 
to the friends of Isaac Smith, for in just twelve days he 
was to be hanged if nothing developed as a result of the in- 
vestigation set on foot by Mr. Brown. He went to work 
with a will, and in the course of a week returned with suf- 
ficient evidence to change the mind of the Governor again 
and secure another respite, this time to November 29, when 
the climax of human deviltry was attained in a fruitless ef- 
fort to drag a confession from Isaac Smith a few moments 
before he expected to take his position on the fatal trap. 
Mr. Brown visited a number of people in and abou the 
scene of the crime, and among others he called upon "Black 
Dick" Vance himself, where he obtained evidence that was 
startling to the Governor, and which eventually led him to ex- 
claim later in the hearing that if the public knew what he did 
Isaac Smith would never be convicted on the crime if tried 
again. Mr. Brown called on Mrs. McKinley, the mother 
of Smith's first wife, who gave her son-in-law a good name, 
and who, contrary to the usual stories about mothers-in-law, 
gave her son-in-law an excellent reputation for industry and 
honesty. Soon after the conviction of Isaac his enemies be- 



80 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

came very aotiveand suddenly discovered thatall thiswhilehe 
had been a monster in human form. It was charged that he 
had at one time killed a one-armed peddler, though no 
money was taken from the body. Then again it was asserted 
that he had killed the father of little Mary Smith, who was 
his sister-in-law, with whom he had remained over night 
previous to starting on his Arkansas trip, on the morning of 
November 12, 1888. At the time her father was killed, 
which was in 1870, Isaac Smith was five years old, and a 
very precocious murderer he must have been at that. Mr. 
Brown also showed by the statement of Mr. and Mrs. Duke, 
who kept the store near the scene of the murd#r, that both 
the Vances were there that night loafing about. This was 
in direct contradiction to the statement of "Black Dick" 
Vance to the effect that on the night of the murder he was 
not away from home at all. There was also a great deal 
said about the time of the trial about the Vances being at 
church the night when Skidmore was killed. By reference 
to the concluding pages of this volume, where is attached 
the synopsis of the criminal prosecution against the Vances, 
it will be observed that the standing of the Vances in the 
church as shown by the report of Bishop John A. Watter- 
son, of this city, and Hon. H. J. Booth, who examined the 
record, must have been very high. According to the 
Dukes and others the Vances only attended church in order 
to get into a row. They were tough citizens in the neighbor- 
hood, and everybody stood in fear of them. Where people 
were willing to testify in favor of Isaac Smith it practically 
amounted to either outright murder or incendiarism, or 
both. Many people who would have testified for the de- 
fendant at the time even, and later made affidavits to the 
Governor, were afraid to do so on account of the Vance 
influence in the neighborhood. Mr. Brown also had a talk 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 81 

with the Dakens, past whose house near the Indiana mill 
Isaac Smith passed on his way from the fatal game of cards 
to the residence of his sister-in-law, where he remained over 
the night previous to his departure for Arkansas. Daken 
at first stated that Smith was alone, which contradicted the 
statement of the Vance crowd that he was accompanied by 
Stephen Skidmore, and which was absolutely necessary for 
their side of the case to fix the two men together almost 
up to the hour of the killing. Being the last man seen with 
Skidmore, and having a rifle at the time, the Vances knew 
it would be an easy matter to fasten public suspicion on him. 
But Daken, under a threat of some kind, afterwards went 
back on his statement. He found it better to be at peace 
with the Vance gang than to tell the truth about Isaac 
Smith. Then Mr. Brown bearded the Vance lion in his den 
and interviewed "Black Dick" and his wife. The neighbors 
thereabouts sought to dissuade him from what they termed 
a foolhardy adventure, but Mr. Brown was not to be swerved 
from what he conceived to be his duty, and going into the 
Vance house met Mrs. Vance, and in a few moments her 
husband also. He introduced himself and stated that his 
business was to get the version of "Black Dick" of the kill- 
ing of Skidmore. This seemed to satisfy "Black Dick," who 
was all that his cognomen indicated — a low-browed man 
with a hard face and wicked eyes and an expression of 
scowling when not meditating some deed of darkness and 
crime. While Vance was out Mr. Brown conversed with 
Mrs. Vance, who seemed more disposed to conversation than 
her husband. On the day of the card party at the mill, of 
which her husband was one, with Smith and Skidmore, she 
was sick in bed and consequently hardly knew who was 
about the premises* Then her husband joined her and the 
party all took supper, after which the conversation that 



82 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

took place in the yard of the Vances on that Sunday after- 
noon was again referred to by Mr. Brown, who got them to 
admit that they were in the house and did not know who 
all were in the yard or which way they went. Almost im- 
mediately afterwards both stated that Skidmore and Smith 
went away together. In the evidence at the trial the Vances 
stated that "Yellow Dick/' who was never seen in the lo- 
cality after the murder, had gone to church that night and 
returned, though Mary McCloud, who was employed at the 
house as a servant girl, denied emphatically that "Yellow 
Dick" was there at all after leaving shortly following the 
breaking up of the party. That be was not at church was 
corroborated by several people in affidavits and by the 
statement of Mrs. McKinley that the McCoy and the Me- 
Gowen boy had told her son long after the event that they 
had met Vance the night of the murder coming up from the 
doleful hollow where the body was afterwards discovered. 
The boys accounted for their presence there and long- 
continued silence on the ground that they were fearful of 
punishment because they bad that night torn down a flag 
of Mr. Duke, the storekeeper, and ran down the road with 
it. It was for a long time a mystery who did this, and the 
boys were afraid of being punished if they confessed. While 
in the hollow they met "Yellow Dick" coming up in the 
manner stated, who asked them if church was out. This 
brings Vance to within a few feet of the spot where the body 
was found, and within a very short time of the actual com- 
mission of the crime. While in the house of the Vances for 
the night, Mr. Brown was shown a letter from "Yellow 
Dick" Vance under date of July 20, and from West Vir- 
ginia, in which he used the following language: "Well, 
uncle, I have got into a hell of a scrape here; there was a 
man shot at me and I came down on his G — d head with 



CRIME OF THE STATB. 83 

a rock and settled him." This statement from "Yellow 
Dick" himself seems to be in harmony with the affidavit of 
A. P. Stephens, of Harden, who had a talk with "Black 
Dick" Vance in the fall of 1889, after Isaac Smith was in 
the annex. To him "Black Dick," commenting on the 
prowess of his cousin, "Yellow Dick," as a murderer said: 
"He is not only a slick man, but he is a dangerous man 
too. He would kill a man right along, and had to leave 
Earden and again had to leave West Virginia." Before 
leaving the Vances Detective Brown stated to them both, 
looking at them squarely in the face, that while he believed 
Isaac Smith was not guilty it would be the best thing for all 
concerned to drop the matter and let it be a thing of the past, 
with Smith turned out of prison. Replying to the question 
as to their own opinion about it, they said: "We wish that 
Ike was turned loose and would be glad if that was the end 
of the whole matter and nobody else taken up for the 
crime." Then "Black Dick" spoke up alone and said: "If 
that was done you tell Ike to come back to my house, that 
I want to see him." At this point Mrs. Vance spoke of some 
hinting that her brother, Nate Wallace, the fortune teller 
and the man who was recently released from the state 
prison, had something to do with the murder. This, taken 
in connection with the statement of Mrs. Wallace that the 
Vance people would be perfectly satisfied with the release 
of Isaac Smith if they thought that would be the end of the 
whole matter, indicated a fear that the real murderers would 
then be looked after, and this might lead to some more of 
the family leaving the state between two days. 

Perhaps the most remarkable of all the evidence se- 
cured by Mr. Brown was that given by Mary McCloud, a 
domestic in the family of "Black Dick" Vance at the time 
of the commission of the crime. She was so badly intimi- 



84 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

dated that it was a long time before she had anything to say, 
and it was only her refusal to remain longer at the Vance 
home following the killing that excited the suspicion of her 
parents, to whom she declared that she could not stay at such 
a place as Vance's any longer because it was "honery." On 
the Sunday afternoon of November 11 she was employed 
at the house of "Black Dick" Vance, and saw all who were 
there that day. Skidmore, with one or two others, was 
standing out in the yard when fhe overheard the Vances 
talking, and one of them said, referring to Skidmore: 
"Don't you see that bag of $400 in gold in Skidmore's hip 
pocket?" This was what Mary McCloud told her parents 
on her return home, and after the murder had become 
known. She had further stated that during the night one 
of the Vances and Wallace had entered the house and, going 
into the kitchen, closed the door. Thinking that they might 
want their supper, she got up to set the table for them and, 
entering the kitchen without knocking, she noticed on the 
table a big pile of money and a sudden movement on the 
part of the men to get out of her sight. She had further said 
that it was her impression that the Vances and Wallace 
started off after Smith and Skidmore had left the Vance 
house. Mr. Brown had a great deal of trouble to get any- 
thing out of the girl, as both she and her father seemed to 
be afraid of the mother, who was disposed to offer objections 
to Mary telling what she heard and saw on the day of the 
killing. Mr. McCloud secretly confessed to Mr. Brown: 
"We are afraid for our lives, for 'Yellow Dick' stands in 
with the Bronsons, the Ingersons and the McCoys, of West 
Virginia, and they will come over here and kill anybody 
who will say anything against their gang." IsTor were the 
McClouds, though related to the Vances, the only people 
who stood in fear of the latter. Mr. Forsythe, of Harden, 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 85 

also stated to Mr. Brown that "I had one incendiary fire and 
I don't want another." 

Before leaving the McClouds and in the absence of 
Mrs. McCloud, Mr. McCloud told Mr. Brown that "Yellow 
Dick" had come to his house a short time after the murder 
and remained there several days, apparently in hiding, and 
that he would not venture to Harden because he did not 
want any one to see him, and Mr. McCloud was obliged to 
make several trips over to the village for him in arranging 
some money matter with Mr. Taylor, while "Yellow Dick" 
hid in the big woods. Mr. McCloud' s private opinion of 
"Yellow Dick" in the absence of his wife was stated to Mr. 
Brown as follows : "Yellow Dick" is an awful wicked man 
and would do anything. I believe he would kill a man for 
$5. I think he could cut a man in pieces and laugh over the 
pile of scraps. Why, he stole a man's hogs in broad daylight 
and sold them and the man was afraid to do anything against 
him. There is a man living within two miles of this place 
who made statements against those fellows and he won't 
light his lamp at night for fear. 

Detective Brown also had a talk with Mrs. Nellie 
Smith, wife of Isaac, whose associations with Fowler made 
her a bad reputation in and about the neighborhood ac- 
cording to the affidavits submitted to the Board of Pardons 
and the Governor. He found her at the house of her father, 
Mr. Snively, a miserable wretch who had a wicked laugh 
when gloating over the probable death by hanging of his 
son-in-law. The character of Snively was best described 
by his wife on the witness stand when testifying about 
the patching in the pouch that Isaac carried on the day 
of the killing. She flatly contradicted what her husband 
had said, and, when asked by the prosecutor why she differed 
so radically from her husband, she bluntly replied that her 



86 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

husband "was lying and he knew he was lying." To Mr. 
Brown, Mrs. Snively said that Isaac was a kind and an 
industrious man, but that as he killed Skidmore he ought 
to hang. Mrs. Smith advanced a very peculiar, if not 
original, reason why her husband ought to be hung. She 
said: "Yes, I wish he was hung, and if he hadn't talked 
about me I wouldn't care." Continuing, she said: "*When 
the prosecuting attorney was here he told me that Ike was 
saying that she and Fowler were too thick, and that my 
child was Fowler's and not his. This made me mad. If it 
was proven that he was innocent I would still want him 
hanged. If he hadn't talked about me I wouldn't care." 
Mr. Brown seemed to have better success interviewing the 
lady than Mr. Booth and Bishop W&tterson had some time 
later in Harden. Prior to this Mrs. Smith had made an 
affidavit that Isaac had told her before leaving that he had 
killed Skidmore. This corroborated the story of Fowler, 
and might have been detrimental to Smith had the fact of 
the notorious conduct of Fowler and the wife of Smith not 
become known to the Board of Pardons. Their motives in 
desiring to get Smith out of the way were patent as well 
as powerful factors in eventually securing not only a com- 
mutation, but an absolute pardon. In his search for evi- 
dence Mr. Brown interviewed Albert Newlands, who was 
working with Smith in "logging" some time before. "Black 
Dick" Vance persisted in going along with the evident in- 
tention of intimidating Newlands, who stated that 
while working with Smith the latter broke a suspender, 
permitting his pocket-book to roll out of his clothes. It 
contained a great deal of money, mostly in gold, which was 
scattered about on the ground. In picking it up Smith re- 
marked that " this is a $100 that I have salted down, calcu- 
lating to take it with me when I £0 to Arkansas." It was a 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



87 



very important point for Isaac Smith that he should have 
had money before starting for Arkansas, and that he should 
have had it before the death of Stephen Skidmore, for whose 
death the motive of robbery was given against Smith. An 
affidavit of the assessor was also secured to the effect that 
when he called the previous spring Isaac Smith had turned 
in for taxation over $250. 




88 CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER XIII 



THANKSGIVING DAY. 



One That Isaac Smith Will Ever Remember to His Dying 
Day — Eminent Counsel Appear Before the Governor 
and Plead Until Night for His Life. 



Detective Brown returned from Pike county within 
a week and made his report to Mr. Kinkead, who in turn 
carried the result of his labors to the Governor and laid 
them before him. It was then within a few days of the 
time set for the execution, and Governor Campbell was 
once more induced to extend the time, which he did by 
setting a later date for November 29. It was noticed from 
beginning to end that the Governor was economical in his 
dates. He was apparently opposed to a long interim as the 
record will show. From April 25 the time was extended 
to June 20, and from June 20 to August 29. The next date 
was set for October 24, and on the report from Mr. Brown 
this date was extended to November 29. In consequence 
of this the friends of Isaac Smith were compelled to hasten 
matters, and a new vigor was injected into the case. Smith 
was rapidly approaching a crisis in his life of respites. The 
last act of the Governor gave him but little more than 
thirty days to live. A grand effort was then put forth by 
those who were concerned in the preservation of the life of 
the defendant, who had by this time not a dollar left to his 
name. Everything done in his behalf was due to the de- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 89 

voted loyalty of friends, among whom were Mr. Kinkead 
and Mr. Hayes. Mr. Kinkead was at this time noted for his 
devotion and loyalty to the helpless man, and far and wide 
his name was spoken of as one who had unselfishly devoted 
his endeavors to the salvation of a life that seemed to be des- 
tined to a wanton sacrifice. From the time the Supreme 
Court decided against the prisoner he was active and poten- 
tial. On this occasion, when it was generally believed that 
the crisis in the life of Isaac Smith had been reached, he ap- 
peared before the governor with an argument presenting 
facts and figures that seemed to carry conviction to the mind 
of the chief executive of the state. Mr. Kinkead had spent 
many months of patient but intelligent investigation of the 
case, and when he appeared in the executive chamber that 
day he was equipped for the battle of his life. And never 
was there a battle better fought than that one. For hours 
he reasoned with the governor with a keen logic and an as- 
tounding information of the subject then engrossing the en- 
tire attention of the people. His whole heart and soul was 
in the case. The very spirit of confidence in the innocence 
of Isaac Smith had much to do with the opinion of the pub- 
lic. Mr. Kinkead was in the true sense an honest man, and 
the public knew that he would never engage in a case where- 
in right was on the side against him. In this case right was 
on the side of Isaac Smith, and Mr. Kinkead was not slow in 
making the best of it. On the 28th day of November a mem- 
orable event occurred in the office of the Governor. Some 
of the very best legal talent in the state was there to look 



90 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



after the interests of Isaac Smith. Among them was 
George B. Okey, of this city, than whom there are none 
better versed in legal lore. Mr. Okey was deeply interested 
in the testimony, as he had read it and was amazed that hu- 
man life could be so cheap anywhere. He entered into the 
analysis of the evidence and the facts with the profundity 
of an intellect richly equipped with experience in the in- 
tricate maizes of the law. With him was George A. Fair- 
banks, afterwards a candidate for attorney general of the 
State of Ohio on the Democratic ticket. Mr. Fairbanks, 
too, was moved with the same zeal and ardor in the matter 
as was Mr. Okey. The Governor on this day sat as a 
judge listening to the arguments advanced for the wretched 
man held in his cage of iron and steel behind the walls of the 
state prison. To him it was an eventful day and one that he 
will never forget. The newspaper men crowded the office 
of Governor Campbell eagerly awaiting the decision of his 
Excellency. The afternoon men were fearful that the de- 
cision of the Governor would be delayed too long to do 
them any good. The representatives of the morning papers 
were hoping that nothing would be done until after the 
hour of the evening editions, and in this they were not dis- 
appointed. Besides the newspaper men, attorneys and in- 
terested spectators, there were others. Sheriff Watkins was 
on hand, expecting and hoping to see his victim writhing at 
the end of the rope. Warden Dyer was there also, fearful 
lest his natural prey should escape him. Like a hawk he 
stood by with his fingers clutched talon like ready to sink 
them deep in the victim and finally strangle him on the 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 91 

gallows. It was a veritable fight for a man's life, and the 
issue was one of absolute torture to the friends of the con- 
demned as well as to the latter himself. Noon came, and 
still the plea for the life of Isaac Smith continued. The 
Governor sat immutable and listened with the stoicism of 
a Roman consul, in whose hands was life and death. It 
was evident that his mind was very busy on that day. On 
his face was a troubled look as he glanced up from the pile 
of papers before him as the attorneys made some remarks 
that seemed to interest him. His face betrayed no mean- 
ing of the thoughts working themselves out within. Not 
far from him sat another enemy of Isaac Smith in the 
person of his corresponding secretary, W. S. Creighton, 
who had been the stenographer at the trial and had had 
some trouble with the defendant in the disposition of the 
notes of the trial. Mr. Creighton had been sent down into 
Pike county by the Governor, also to make a report, and 
when he came back his findings were not as favorable to the 
prisoner as they might have been had he never had any 
trouble with Isaac Smith over the valuable stenographic 
notes of the trial. 

Mr. Creighton wanted vindication, and none needed 
it more than he did on this point. With him demanding 
vindication, Warden Dyer on the other side insisting on the 
condemned paying the penalty and Sheriff Watkins in the 
background fearful that he would not be able to gratify 
his desire to see a fellow-mortal die a fearful and sickening 
death, Governor Campbell was indeed in distress and doubt. 
Curious to state, there was some politics in the case at this 
time. Just what business politics had in the case of a man's 
life and death is hard to understand, and yet politics did cut 
a great figure. All the county officials were Democrats, 
and they were deeply interested in the matter. After the 



92 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

conviction of Isaac Smith some of them began to think that 
his release would be a reflection on them. Wherever there 
was a Democrat in' office there was an enemy of Isaac Smith. 
The particularly bitter enemy of the prisoner was Charles 
]\I. Higgins, an attorney of Waverly, who expected to be 
retained for the defense of the prisoner. But he was not. 
Ever thereafter this attorney did all he could to have Isaac 
Smith hanged, and simply because he did not get some of 
the money that he thought he ought to have had for defend- 
ing him. He sent letter after letter to the Governor and 
others in Columbus, and the burden of them all was to the 
effect that the respites were a menace to society and that 
Isaac Smith ought to be hung. The .conduct of Higgins 
was disgraceful and unprofessional in the extreme. All 
day long the battle for a man's life went on. Now the 
balance was against Isaac Smith and now the pendulum of 
his fate swung toward him. The hours and the minutes of 
that day were awful ones to the hapless man suffering in 
his cage in the penitentiary. In the meantime Governor 
Campbell expressed a desire to attend church, as it was 
Thanksgiving, and his family were expecting him to ac- 
company them. It was agreed that he should return in the 
afternoon, when the struggle should be renewed for the life 
of the waiting man in the annex. ISToon came and went, 
and about 2 o'clock Governor Campbell again entered the 
office and the arguments of the attorneys proceeded. The 
afternoon wore away, and the shades of night began to fall 
upon the assemblage. Then Governor Campbell an- 
nounced his determination to grant the condemned man 
another respite. It was a moment of rejoicing to the friends 
of Isaac Smith, but a bitter disappointment to his enemies, 
who left the executive chamber with murmurings of dis- 
content and criticism. On that night there were two others 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 93 

to hang with Isaac Smith. These were Elmer Sharkey, of 
Preble county, and Henry Popp, of Stark county. The 
former had killed his mother and the latter a saloon-keeper 
in Canton, with whom he had some difficulty. Popp was a 
very ignorant man and never really understood the mean- 
ing of his conviction and incarceration. He was visited in 
his cell after his reprieve that night by the writer in com- 
pany with Hon. C. 0. Cook, of Cincinnati, at that time a 
member of the Board of Pardons, who took a deep interest 
in the unfortunate man, and who was highly in favor of his 
commutation to a life sentence. Within three weeks Popp 
was executed along with Sharkey, the writer being present 
in the execution chamber. 



Jsmza 






EXECUTION ROOM. 



CRIME OF TEE STATE. 95 



CHAPTER XIV. 



HOURS OF AGONY. 



Isaac Smith, Respited on the Evening of December 18, is 
Kept in Ignorance of His Good fortune and Carried to 
the Death Chamber, Where Unnatural Tortures Are 
Inflicted Upon Him to the Last Few Moments — The 
Inquisition is Outdone. 



For a thousand years the horrors of the Spanish In- 
quisition have been the favorite reference of writers who 
wished to refer to historical atrocities and awful cruelties. 
Warden Dyer was never a student of either ancient or 
modern history and knew nothing of his predecessors in 
the practice of barbarities that would make the most hard- 
ened shudder and recoil with fearful horror at the punish- 
ments inflicted on persons who persisted in worshipping God 
as they saw fit without reference to the views of others. It 
remained for him to devise a new method of torture that 
laid far over anything that the religious bigots of the 
middle ages thought of. This chapter in the life of Isaac 
Smith seems more like the romance of a diseased imagina- 
tion that the actual occurrence in a civilized, religious gov- 



96 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



eminent, where humane methods were employed and where 
there was singing and prayer for mercy to Almighty God 
even at such a gruesome scene as an execution of a criminal. 
•Detective Grannan had in the meantime been called 
into the case and had agreed with the Governor to make 
a visit to the scene of the crime. He did so, and while in 
that region he fell out with some of Foster's men and the 
trip was not productive of any great good to Isaac Smith. 
Grannan was to make some investigation of the places 
which Smith and Eowler were alleged by the latter to 
have visited while they were in Cincinnati November 12, 
1888, the day following the murder, when Smith was on his 
way to Arkansas. No doubt Grannan's agreement with the 
Governor to assist in making further disclosures in the 
matter greatlv aided in securing the respite for November 
29 to December 19, and that in the end enabled Mr. Kin- 
kead to enlist the powerful influence of Bishop Watterson, 
through Hon. H. J. Booth, both of whom became, like 
everybody else, greatly concerned in the fate of Smith. On 
When Governor Campbell expressed his intention of 
giving the condemned man another respite, it had to a cer- 
tain extent a string to it. The moment he made up his mind 
to do so he stepped over to the spot where Warden Dyer 
and Mr. Kinkead were standing. Placing one hand on the 
shoulder of Mr. Kinkead and the other upon the shoulder 
of the Warden, he said: I will give Smith another respite, 
but you can both call on him and urge him to tell what he 
knows about the death of Skidmore before he is acquainted 
with the fact that another respite has been given him. I ex- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 97 

pect both of you to use your utmost endeavors to secure a 
statement of his knowledge of the case before he is informed 
of my decision. To this both assented, and then and there 
the diabolical idea entered the head of Warden Dyer to in- 
dict upon the condemned the tortures that he afterwards did 
in the dark and silent hours of that night when he removed 
Smith from the cage to the cell above where murderers spent 
their last hours in this world. Going to the prison, he pretend- 
ed that it was all over for Smith, and calmly proceeded with 
the arrangements of the execution. Strict orders were given 
that no information of any sort should be given the prisoner. 
Everybody was ordered excluded from the annex. Smith 
at the time was in the reception room of the annex where 
the death warrant is usually read to the doomed man early 
in the evening. He was walking about there and had just 
finished his supper, which he presumed would be his last. 
The Warden entered, and with him was a guard or two. 
The party passed Smith and entered the execution room 
going to the cage itself. Then they proceeded up the stair- 
way leading to the death cell, and a moment later appeared 
on the gallows proper. Curious at the proceedings, the 
prisoner stepped from the reception room to the door of the 
execution room and looked in. There a sight met his horri- 
fied gaze that in itself would have been sufficient to have 
turned one's hair gray. Warden Dyer was attaching a 
heavy rope to the beam above, while his two assistants were 
struggling with a heavy package somewhat resembling a 
coffee sack. This is what it proved to be. And what more, 
it was filled with sand and weighed something like two hun- 
dred and fifty pounds. Then the awful truth dawned upon 
Isaac Smith. The Governor had refused to further respite 
him and his hour was at last at hand. He was doomed to 
die, and the Warden right before his very eyes was giving 



98 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

a rehearsal of the hanging to occur at midnight with the 
chief actor in the tragedy as the only spectator. With hor- 
rid slowness, but with demoniacal deliberation, the prepara- 
tions went on. Isaac Smith, the condemned man, stood 
as one transfixed. He could not move. His eyes were fast- 
ened on the fatal scene. It had a fascination for him he 
could not withstand. But on went the diabolical work. 
The men who were to do the hanging later along in the night 
went ahead with their work regardless of the horrified eyes 
of the man below them. The rope was suspended from 
above. The heavy bag of sand was attached. It stood bolt 
upright on the trap. The assistants of the Warden stepped 
to one side and looked upon the sack. The Warden also 
stepped to the rear and a little to the left. His eye also was 
on that sack. His hand was touching the lever. All was in 
readiness for the word. The man who was to spring the 
trap now braced himself back. Below still stood Isaac 
Smith, never for a moment taking his eyes from the fearful 
scene in progress before hint. A stillness as of death itself 
reigned in that fearful chamber of horrors. In another in- 
stant the Warden pulled the lever and the mighty weight 
of sand went crashing towards the floor. First came the 
harsh grating of the trap as the doors flew open. Then the 
clanging as they struck the sides of the gallows. Then again 
came the fearful thud of the sack of sand as it reached the 
end of the rope and sent a shiver even through the Warden 
and his attendants, hardened as they were to such scenes 
of judicial murder. The rope stood the test. The bag of 
sand whirled about like a struggling body, and then stood 
still and all was over. 

What Isaac Smith endured in those few minutes re- 
mains not for mortal pen to portray. Present at his own 
hanging and yet not hung. Viewing with horror his own 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 99 

executioners preparing the gallows on which, he himself was 
soon to dangle. Seeing the awful spectacle and hearing the 
frightful sounds attending his own execution and yet alive. 
Was there anything exceeding in ferocity and thirst for 
human blood in this chapter of the Crime of the State? 
Satisfied with the work they had done, the human butchers 
descended from the gallows and, passing out of the annex, 
Warden Dyer turned upon the still horrified man and in a 
ferocious and savage voice commanded a guard to "take 
this man to the death cell." Without further ado, Isaac 
Smith was at once taken upstairs and placed in the death 
cell where he was to remain for the next five hours, when 
the rope was to be tested once more, but this time with him- 
self as the substitute for the bag of sand. Father Logan, 
the spiritual confessor of the prisoner, was sent for and spent 
some time in the cell with the wretched man. Orders had 
been issued, at that time to let no one in and none out. In 
consequence of this Father Logan was obliged to remain 
with the condemned. At 10 o'clock Isaac Smith, feeling 
that the hours of his life were fast fleeting, and believing 
that it would be better to make one more and last solemn 
declaration of his innocence and protest against his mur- 
der, communicated with the Warden and expressed a desire 
for a sheet of paper on which to make a statement. This 
the Warden gladly furnished, thinking that at last Smith 
was about to confess. Paper and pencil were sent to the 
annex death cell, and there, in the presence of Father Lo- 
gan under the dinr light of a flickering jet of gas, with the 
dreadful clock ticking away the moments of his life — for 
that life was limited to moments now — Isaac Smith dictated 
the following to be read by Father Logan at the last scene 
on the gallows: 

Thursday Night, 10 O'clock. 

November 27, 1890. 



10 GRIME OF THE STATE. 

Feeling that the time has come when I must go into 
eternity and meet my God, I, Isaac Smith, do hereby sol- 
emnly declare that I am innocent of the murder with which 
I am charged, and do hereby declare that I have no knowl- 
edge whatever of this crime, and I further declare that the 
evidence upon which I have been condemned is absolutely 
false and without foundation. 

ISAAC (His X Mark) SMITH. 

The above is dictated to me on this night of November 
27, 1890. REV. F. B. LOGAK 

So the night wore on. Occasionally Warden Dyer 
would drop in the annex to see how things were going and 
to take another view of his victim. Each and every time 
he called he had in his pocket the respite of the Governor 
tightly buttoned in his pocket. It furnished him a gruesome 
satisfaction to watch his prisoner sitting there on his chair 
with his eyes on the clock over the mantel ticking away the 
fleeting moments. The sands in the hourglass of Isaac 
Smith's life were all but run out. A few grains still re- 
mained above, but these were dropping one at a time, slowly, 
it is true, but to the condemned they were going fast enough. 
Had a vein in the body of the soon-to-be-strangled man been 
quietly opened and his life fluid suffered to escape drop by 
drop with his full consciousness of what the loss meant, the 
agony of his mind could not have been more. Isaac Smith 
then and there was in effect a dead man. The human mind 
is incapable of comprehension of a situation like this. Lan- 
guage falls mute and helpless before a scene of inquisitorial 
torture such as devised by the Warden of this prison. In 
that fearful hour it would have been a tender mercy and a 
loving compassion to Isaac Smith had some demon come 
upon the scene and with sharp blade literally severed him 
to pieces, joint by joint, limb from limb, leaving the vital 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 101 

parts for the last. That would at least have been a diversion 
for his thoughts. The physical death was as nothing com- 
pared to the mental death he was then undergoing. 

The hour of 11 o'clock had come and gone and still 
there had been no reading of the death warrant. This cus- 
tom was usually observed about 10 o'clock, the Warden and 
the "invited guests" going down into the chamber of hor- 
rors and dragging out the miserable wretches, shivering 
with fear and helpless from terror, and compelling them to 
listen to the solemn and monotonous document which al- 
ways wound up with the cheerful announcement that the 
said Warden must take the defendant and hang him by the 
neck until dead. The writer has attended this function op. 
more occasions than one, and particularly recalls the event 
in the lives of Elmer Sharkey and Henry Popp, who were 
brought out into the reception room where a surging mob 
clamored about and around them eager to see and hear all 
that was said. The writer stood by the side of the Warden 
and next to Sharkey while the fateful document was read 
to him. To all intents and purposes he was dead then. 
Popp was as oblivious of the surroundings and as uncon- 
scious of the meaning as though he never had any existence 
at all. The hands of the clock on the mantel pointed at 
11:30, and Isaac Smith was startled at the sound of foot- 
steps on the stone floors below him. The tread became 
louder and clearer. The steps began to ascend the stairs, 
and he knew then that the Warden was coming to read to 
him the death warrant and to prepare him for the end, which 
was now in sight. When the door of the death chamber 
turned upon its hinges to admit his executioners the con- 
demned man was startled to meet face to face his attorney, 
Mr. Kinkead, who accompanied the Warden. The three 
men took seats, with Isaac in the middle. Mr. Kinkead 



102 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



sat to the left and Warden Dyer to the right. Then oc- 
curred a remarkable scene. The Warden openly charged 
Smith with the crime and told him to confess. He claimed 
to have in his pocket a letter from the Governor to the ef- 
fect that if Isaac Smith would confess he would be com- 
muted to life imprisonment. But Isaac steadily refused to 
make any admissions, declaring solemnly that he was an 
innocent man and had nothing to confess. At this mo- 
ment Mr. Kinkead turned toward him and said with all the 
earnestness and candor of his nature, after taking out his 
watch: Isaac, you have less than thirty minutes to live. 
I ask you now to tell me all that you know about this case. 
You know I have been your friend all the way through, 
and that I have left nothinp* undone to save your life. I 
feel now that you ought to tell me everything you know, 
and that you will. To this Isaac, bursting into tears, re- 
sponded: I know I have but a few more minutes to live, 
but I have no knowledge of this murder and I can say noth- 
ing. All that I ask you now is that after I am gone you will 
not cease to discover the perpetrators of this crime and bring 
them in the end to the justice they deserve. I ask this for 
the sake of my little girl, whom I am soon to leave an or- 
phan. It is my last request, and for her sake do what you 
can to clear the name of her father of being a murderer. 

After vainly endeavoring to extort by fraud a confes- 
sion from Isaac, Warden Dyer became disgusted and left the 
death cell. Before going he openly charged the prisoner 
with the crime and urged him to confess, but all to no pur- 
pose. Conscious of his innocence and immutable in his 
purpose, Isaac Smith stood firm and refused to tell a lie even 
at the price of his own life. He told Warden Dyer that he 
wished him to retire from the death cell and only return 
when the law's mandates required him to return, which 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 10 3 

would be in a very few minutes. TaMng the hint, Dyer 
turned to Kinkead and said: "Well, Kinkead, let's get out 
of here/' and both departed. 

Isaac Smith then had about ten minutes to live so far 
as he knew, but even then he was undaunted. His mind 
had been made up and he resolved to go to the gallows with 
the courage of a man who felt and knew that he was being 
judicially murdered. About the great prison there was 
an awful stillness as was usual preceding the execution of 
a criminal. Sitting there in his cell of death with nothing 
about him but walls of stone and steel and apparently no 
friend on earth to say a kind word for him, the doomed man 
gave way to despair. His agony was that of Gethsemane. 
There is no speech nor is there language to describe it. 
About him was the wall of stone. Without him were the 
men whom he momentarily expected to enter and strangle 
him. Every tread on the floor sent a thrill through his al- 
ready shattered nervous system. In the awful presence 
of one's own death this must have been a frightful moment 
to Isaac Smith. Deliberately that solemn clock ticked 
away the moments, and they were becoming painfully few. 
The keen ears of the despairing man easily detected any 
sounds on the stone paving leading to the annex, and at this 
time he heard steps approaching him. He believed then 
that his hour had come. The cold sweat broke out on his 
forehead as he heard the steps coming up the stairway to 
the death cell. It was a frightful moment then. Nothing 
can depict it. His own stranglers were at hand. In an- 
other moment they would be in his solitary cell bidding him 
take up the march to the gallows and to eternity. The cell 
door turned on its hinges and Warden Dyer entered. He 
was alone. The defenseless man looked in wonder upon the 
intruder. Could it be possible that the Warden himself 



10 4 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

would do the strangling, and that in the cell where the con- 
demned lay? Were there to be no witnesses of the hang- 
ing as there had always been heretofore? Isaac Smith, 
then more dead than alive, was still more stupefied. He 
could not understand it. Not until the Warden broke the 
silence did he know the portent of that entrance. Then 
Mr. Dyer, in a tone almost of regret, said: Well, Smith, 
you are in luck. The Governor has decided to reprieve you 
again, and you can now come down and take your old place 
in the annex. This seemed to be too good to be true. Its 
real import was lost upon Isaac Smith. He believed him- 
self dead then, and the resurrection was something he could 
not understand. He sat as one dazed and looked at the 
Warden mutely, helplessly, as though the meaning of the 
Warden's words were incomprehensible to him. In all 
these hours of agony he had considered himself already 
dead. He felt then that all flesh was as grass. Never be- 
fore in his life did he realize the saying, that: "Man born 
of woman is of few days and full of trouble; that he cometh 
forth in the morning and is cut down; that he fleeth as a 
shadow and continueth not." Another moment and Isaac 
Smith had descended to the cage below where he left five 
hours before. Warden Dyer at once issued orders that no- 
body should be admitted to the annex, but in the meantime 
Deputy Porter had permitted the newspaper men to come 
into the annex. They fairly swarmed in and surrounded 
the prisoner. At that moment he was limp and helpless 
and could scarcely speak above a whisper. Congratulations 
were showered upon him by the hundred, but to them all he 
was insensible, though grateful. In the throng about him 
was his faithful friend and attorney, Mr. Kinkead, who had 
not the heart to approach the helpless man, but contented 
himself with a look, and with tears of joy and gratitude in 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 105 

his eyes he quietly took his departure, leaving Isaac Smith 
to his thoughts. At 3 o'clock that morning Isaac Smith 
realized that he was really respited and that he was alive. 
His magnificent constitution had yielded to the strain, and 
he was not himself. In his own words to the writer he de- 
clares that hanging at that moment would have been a relief 
to him and a tender mercy. He had made his peace with 
God and was prepared to go. His worldly affairs were all 
settled, and so far as he could think there was nothing left 
undone. 

He had solemnly abjured his friend and counselor in 
many dark hours before, Mr. Kinkead, to leave no stone 
unturned to clear his own good name and leave the blue- 
eyed child in Pike county a reputation that would never 
cause her to turn away and hide her face in shame and tears. 
With this idea in view, he bade the world good by and was 
ready to go. All the bridges were burned behind him. He 
had turned his face to the earth for the last time. The 
glorious sun had for him rolled through the skies for the 
last time. The pale moon would shed her gentle beams on 
his head no more. The stars would guide their silent course 
through the heavens and he would never see their sidereal 
glory again. The faces of men were cruel and naught 
remained to him but stone walls, the rope swinging from 
the ring of steel, and the stern, harsh words of the Warden 
commanding him to follow to the scaffold and say what few 
words he might wish before going into eternity. Was it 
little wonder that Isaac Smith, when the good news was 
broken to him, came down those stairs as weak and helpless 
as a child? Was it to be expected that after practically 
going through the trap and suffering death in a thousand 
forms that he could really believe that he was to live once 
more? 



10 5 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

The next day Warden Dyer issued another order that 
no papers should be sent to the annex for four days. This 
order, needless to say, was not obeyed. The papers came 
the next day as usual, and Isaac Smith read all that had 
been said about him. It has often been said that men who 
even through law hang their fellow men come to some bad 
end or suffer for their act in this life. That this is true 
seems to be borne out in the fate of Warden Dyer. The 
self -same night that he was torturing Isaac Smith in the 
death cell, when the Governor had reprievd him, a fire de- 
stroyed his big livery stable in the city of Pittsburg, and 
the papers the next morning came out and gave the loss at 
$25,000. Warden Dyer left at 2 o'clock that morning for 
the scene of his loss, and from that time dated the begin- 
ning of his political and financial reverses. The morning 
papers were exceedingly sensational. The State Journal 
had some very exciting headlines. They read as follows: 

THE BRINK OF DEATH. 



Isaac Smith Experiences Untold Tortures of Mind to Ex- 
tort a Confession. 



The News of His Respite Withheld Until the Hour of Exe- 
cution Arrives, 



When He Confides a Scaffold Statement to His Spiritual 
Adviser and Reiterates His Innocence. 



Henry Popp is Forgotten in the Ghastly Shuffle Until the 
Hour of Execution Arrives. 



Governor Campbell Grants a Respite to the Two Men, Who 
May Be Executed on December 19. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 107 

"When Isaac Smith came down from the death cell he 
was met by a new arrival in the annex. This was Edward 
Blair, who had killed a station agent in Putnam county. 
Blair was a desperado of the worst character, and had no con- 
ception of life. When he was brought in by Deputy Porter 
he said to the latter, referring to the crowded condition 
of the annex: You seem to be overstocked here, Porter. 
You had better hustle some of these fellows out and make 
more room. 

To this Deputy Porter replied : Would you be willing 
to go first? 

Blair replied : Oh, it is immaterial. 

The Cincinnati Enquirer had a very sensational dis- 
patch from this city on the respite and the action of the 
Warden in keeping Isaac Smith in the death chamber as 
he had done. They read as follows: 

HOUKS OF AGONY. 



In the Annex Cell of Death Isaac Smith Held Until the 
Midnight Hour Is Passed, 



Awaiting the Signal to Bear Him to the Scaffold. 



Statement to the Priest When His Appointed Time 

Arrives, 



Solemnly Declaring His Innocence of the Murder of 

Stephen Skidmore. 



Back to His Cage Instead of the Scaffold and the Eope. 
Only Then Informed That Again He Has Been Eespited. 



108 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



About 9 o'clock this night the writer called at the peni- 
tentiary to congratulate Isaac Smith upon his respite. In 
the party were Dr. Alexander Neil, of this city, Hon. Geo. 
A. Fairbanks and Detective Foster. The party drove up to 
the penitentiary entrance in a carriage and alighted. En- 
tering the great bastile, Warden Dyer was encountered. 
He was in a bad humor. He spoke gruffly and seemed to be 
very much disappointed that Isaac Smith had escaped him. 
A request to see the prisoner was firmly denied. The War- 
den would listen to no appeal for admission to the annex. 
Dr. Neil, who was always his friend and who was noted then 
as now for his great heart and sympathetic nature, argued 
with him in vain. The Warden was obdurate and relent- 
less, and the party was driven away. 




CRIME OF THE STATE. iQ9 



CHAPTER XV. 



HIS GRAVE DUG. 



Guy Fowler Brought to Columbus and Made to Face His 
Victim in the Annex — Affidavits Showing His Reputa- 
tion Were Very Bad — Suits and Coffins for Three. 



The next date set for the execution was set for Decem- 
ber 19. That was less than three weeks away, and the 
friends of Isaac Smith were compelled to urge matters to 
save his life. Governor Campbell was getting more and 
more in doubht as to the guilt of the accused man. He was 
in fact willing to turn him out, but was dissuaded by his 
clerk, Mr. Creighton, and the work done by the Democratic 
officials of Pike county, who had made it a political issue 
in the county and state. Governor Campbell had long 
looked upon Guy Fowler as a wicked and infamous char- 
acter, and he was anxious on this account, if for no other 
reason, to turn Isaac Smith loose. He believed that Fowler 
knew all about the crime, and he was anxious to give the lat- 
ter a chance to tell what he knew. He felt that Fowler was 
lying all the time, and all he asked was that the friends of 
Smith be given a chance to prove him a liar. He was anx- 
ious to find out where Fowler spent the night of November 
11, 1888, from 4 in the afternoon until the next morning, 
w r hen we went down to Newtown, instead of the evening be- 
fore, as he claimed. While this story was shown to be a 
fiction, yet the Governor insisted that there was a missing 



HQ CRIME OF THE STATE. 

link somewhere, and that it was not sufficient to turn Smith 
out unless it could be shown where Fowler spent that night. 
He thought that it should be shown that Fowler had some 
meeting with the Vanees and the gang that were supposed 
to know all about the killing that night. To connect him 
with the murder and free Smith it should be shown that he 
had met the Vanees after leaving the house of 'Squire 
Kates that Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock. To make mat- 
ters clearer, it was determined that Fowler should be 
brought to the city and be made to face the Governor and 
give an account of himself. This was done. Fowler came 
willingly, living at the time in Kentucky. In his inter- 
view with the Governor, he told all kinds of stories, and 
flatly contradicted his own testimony at the trial. Governor 
Campbell in the end roundly denounced Fowler, and pro- 
nounced him the greatest liar of the age. Hon. M. Stan- 
ton, at that time a member of the board of managers of the 
penitentiary, was particularly inflamed at Fowler, and shak- 
ing his fist under the nose of the infamous witness, said that 
he and not Isaac Smith ought to be hung for the crime. The 
introduction of Fowler in the case is best described by the 
Ohio State Journal of December 3, which published the 
following: 

A SCAFFOLD COMEDY. 



Second Appearance in the City of the Eminent Artist, Sir 
Guy Fowler, of Kentucky. 



He Gives Three Exhibitions: Private Seance Before the 
Governor, Matinee at the Annex 



And the Regular Performance at Night — Developments 

in the Smith Case. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. m 

Yesterday was a field day in sensational scenes and 
interesting developments in the Isaac Smith murder case. 
Guyon Fowler, the individual who has been one of the cen- 
tral figures in the great case, was brought to the city early 
yesterday morning by Executive Clerk Creighton, of the 
Governor's office, and Detective Foster. He was under ar- 
rest on the charge of conspiracy, but came to the state with- 
out a requisition or force. Be remained in custody of the 
detective all night, and early in the day was started on a 
tour of cross-examination which did not wind up until near- 
ly last midnight. Fowler, in personal appearance, is rough 
looking, and his face is a fair type of the Unganadian of the 
Upper Congo. He appears unconcerned as to his situation, 
apparently confident that he is in no danger except from ar- 
rest for perjury. He has no objection to talking about 
his connection with the crime, and expresses his intention 
to remain here until the matter is settled. In conversation 
and when giving his statements he talks in a slow and hesi- 
tating manner and hangs his head in a dogged way. 

In the morning Fowler was taken before the Governor 
and submitted to an examination as to the alleged confession, 
which lasted two hours. A stenographer was present and 
took a report of the proceedings. After the Governor fin- 
ished with him he was turned over to Attorneys Kinkead, 
Okey and Fairbanks. The evidence and statements made 
by Fowler were of such a contradictory and irresponsible na- 
ture that everyone, including the Governor, was disgusted. 
His story differed materially from the one he told the Gov- 
ernor six weeks ago. The only two points he could relate 
which agreed with his previous declarations were the con- 
fession and the game of cards played in Cincinnati. The 
Governor was obliged to leave at noon for New York, and 
advised the attorneys that he would decide as to Smith's fate 
on his return. 



112 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



It is not a common occurrence for a condemned man 
sentenced upon circumstantial evidence to meet face to face 
with the prosecuting witness whose evidence influenced the 
jury in finding a verdict of murder in the first degree. But 
such was the case at the annex yesterday afternoon. For the 
first time since the trial of Isaac Smith in Pike county, over 
two years ago, he was met by Guy Fowler, the only witness 
of any importance in Smith's case, and upon his testimony 
was Smith sentenced to death. 

Fowler has always managed to keep away from Smith 
after the man's conviction, though he was a regular visitor 
when Smith was confined in jail at Waverly. Therefore, 
his meeting of yesterday with Smith was one of much in- 
terest. 

Fowler, accompanied by Detective Brown, arrived at 
the penitentiary about 3 o'clock. Deputy Warden Porter 
accompanied them to the annex, and Managers Ahlefeld, 
Watkins and Heer and a State Journal reporter soon fol- 
lowed. 

The meeting between the two men was a quiet one 
and void of any dramatic scene. Fowler, in his dogged and 
sullen way, dropped into a seat and was at once ready for 
the questions of the detectives. Smith, with his character- 
istic coolness, crossed his legs and looked at Fowler with an 
expression of disgust. 

The detective alternated between the two men with his 
questions. He confined his queries to the confession and 
Fowler's intimacy with Smith's wife. The substance oi 
the answers of the men was taken down by the reporter and 
appears below: 

The story is commenced after the men's arrival in Cin- 
cinnati on Monday evening following the murder. 



CRIME OF TEE STATE. H3 

Smith — We went to supper and then to a saloon, and 
later walked to Fountain Square. 

Fowler — Afterward to the Dime Museum. 

Smith — That's right. 

Fowler — I bought tickets. 

Smith — He did. 

Fowler — We stayed there an hour. 

Smith — About 9 o'clock we left. 

Fowler — After museum was out we walked about un- 
til 12 o'clock. Then we went to bed at Kruethorp's. Isaac 
got up first in the morning. After breakfast we walked 
about town. Smith wanted to buy a revolver. 

Smith — That is not so. 

Fowler — I told him he could get a revolver at Mem- 
phis. 

Smith — No, sir. There was no revolver mentioned. 

Fowler — We went to the depot after this. On the road 
he told me he killed a man. I asked him who. He replied 
Skidmore, his cousin. 

Smith — There isn't any word of truth in this. 

Fowler — Yes, sir. He had showed me his money be- 
fore and he had about $145. Don't remember where he 
showed it to me. I asked him where he got it, and he said 
he had not been working all this time for nothing. 

Smith — No, indeed; I did not show him any money. 
He had a good right to know it. 

Question — How so? What do you mean? 

Smith — I will tell you if you want to know. I got up 
first and went down the wrong stairs. I proceeded back to 
my room and, putting my hand in my pocket, found my 
pocket-book was gone. I found it under Fowler's pillow 
with a $20-bill missing. Fowler was still in bed. He gave 
me back the money. 



114 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

Fowler — This is not true. We started for the depot, 
and when we arrived there Smith got his valise. He took a 
note out of the valise and put it in his pocket. He thought 
the note had been lost. It was for $45 and made payable to 
Skidmore. He had referred to this note before he told me 
of the killing of Skidmore. I don't know whether I said on 
the trial or not that the note was for $60. We had played 
a game of cards the previous evening after we left the mu- 
seum. I did not know Skidmore. 

, Smith — Yes, sir, he did. I have seen them together, 
and everybody knows it. 

Concerning Fowler's relations with Mrs. Smith, the 
following statements were made: 

Fowler — I hate not been with Smith's wife since she 
was married. 

Smith — He was frequently. I was married June 14, 
1888. Fowler got his washing done by my wife since I 
was married. 

Fowler — I have not seen Mrs. Smith in three years. 

Smith — Did you see my wife June 30, 1888? 

Fowler — Don't think I did. 

Smith — At Leet Scott's? 

Fowler — No, sir. 

Smith — Didn't you see her in July at Taylor's? 

Fowler — No, sir; don't think I did. 

Smith — Didn't you stay all night with her at your 
brother's? 

Fowler — No, sir; I never staid with her. 

Smith — Don't you remember when I caught you with 
her in your brother's yard ? 

Fowler — No, sir. 

Smith — Didn't I see you at the photograph gallery 
with her? 



CRIME OF THE STATE. H5 

Fowler — Don't remember. 

Smith — Didn't yon see her at McOlure's store in Au- 
gust? 

Fowler — No, sir; I am certain I never saw her since 
she was married. 

Smith — I heard they went together before Ave were 
married. > 

Smith — When the mill was just below Ottawa in fall 
of 1888 I'll ask you didn't you work at mill? 

Fowler — Yes, sir. 

Smith — "Where did Snively (Mrs. S.'s father) live? 

Fowler — Over on the pike. 

Smith — Never saw her during that time? 

Fowler — No, 

Smith — Remember the time when you saw me in jail? 

Fowler — Yes, sir. 

Smith — Didn't you say at that time you had come 
from my wife? 

As the party was leaving the annex Smith turned to 
Fowler, and with a voice full of pleading and anguish ex- 
claimed: 

"Now, now, Fowler, tell the truth. Tell these men 
what you told me in the jail when you visited me and prom- 
ised to bring me tobacco and shoes. Did vou not say then 
that the story you had told was a 'G — d — lie and there 
was no truth in it?' " 

"No, sir, I did not," replied Fowler. 

Smith — "Look at me. Don't turn your back. I have 
been -punished and confined in ■prison for two years, and al- 
most hansred, all because you lied. I may be hanged, but 
you mil have to suffer for all of it. Two-thirds of vour 
testimonv is false, and you know it. Why not tell the 
truth? Take my wife if you want her, but don't let me be 
hanged." 



116 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

To this Fowler made no response, but coolly walked 
from the annex room to the corridor. 

The examination of Fowler in the presence of Smith 
was continued last night at the penitentiary. The board 
of managers, deputy wardens and attorneys were present. 
Smith was brought from the annex and the proceedings 
took place in the manager's office. The testimony was re- 
ported by Stenographer Palmer and will be submitted, with 
the statements made by the two men in the afternoon, to the 
Governor. Smith was given a position on one side of the 
table and Fowler on the other. 

The main part of the interrogatories were confined to 
Fowler's relations with Smith's wife and his trip to Cincin- 
nati, where the alleged confession was made. Fowler re- 
peated his story that he left Harden Sunday afternoon, met 
Holmes, Young and Montgomery (bridge men) on the 
train, went as far as Newtown, staid all night there with the 
bridge men. He heard the bridge men deny this on last 
Monday, but believed they were mistaken. On Monday 
night he got on the train and went to Cincinnati. En route 
he met Smith. He could not remember their talk except 
Smith said he was going to Arkansas. The balance of his 
statement was pulled out by a long and weary examination. 
It revealed nothing new. In several particulars it was 
contradictory of his other statements. He claimed, as he 
had in the afternoon, that the confession was made, in Cin- 
cinnati. In his testimony at the trial and his statements 
before the Governor he had asserted that the confession was 
made on the train. When asked to explain this variance 
he could not remember his previous declarations, but was 
certain he was now telling the truth. When pressed by 
Attorney Fairbanks he admitted he had been in daily com- 
munication with the Sheriff of Pike county previous to and 



GRIME OF THE STATE. 117 

after the arrest of Smith. He explained why he returned 
to testify against Smith by the statement that he was told 
if Smith got clear he would kill somebody and he (Fowler) 
would be held responsible. 

The dramatic part of the proceedings was when Fowler 
was turned over to Smith. The latter drew his chair up 
close to the table and looking Fowler straight in the eye 
plied question after question to the man. He got little satis- 
faction, as Fowler denied everything and was emphatic in 
a denial of the intimation that the Sheriff had tampered 
with him. The attorneys got through with Fowler about 

11 o'clock. He will be released and sent back to Kentuckv 

t, 

this morning, as there is no direct evidence to hold him. 

WHAT ME. OREIGHTON THINKS. 

Last evening Mr. Creighton, of the Governor's office, 
expressed the belief that Smith would have his sentence 
commuted. He said Governor Campbell had not reached 
any decision in the case, nor had he intimated his inten- 
tions, but judging from the recent developments this was 
the view he had arrived at. "There is no doubt," continued 
Mr. Creighton, "that public sentiment has changed the past 
ten days in favor of Smith. I am inclined to believe that 
if the evidence recently produced by the attorneys for Smith 
firmly established the fact that Fowler did not leave Har- 
den the Sunday afternoon of the crime it would have result- 
ed in Smith's pardon. But as we discovered yesterday, the 
bridgemen whose affidavits were produced are not abso- 
lutely certain as to the exact day they saw Fowler. There- 
fore, there is still an uncertainty existing as to Fowler's 
movements, which cannot be cleared up for some time. This 
leads me to think that Smith's sentence may be commuted 
and time afforded to probe the matter to the bottom." 



118 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

Notwithstanding the unsatisfactory replies of Fowler 
and the evident falsity of them all, Governor Campbell did 
not feel constrained to prevent the execution of the sentence 
of the Pike county courts on Isaac Smith. He still insisted 
that the friends of the latter had not been able to show by 
actual evidence that Fowler had been with the Vances and 
N~ate Wallace the night that Skidmore was killed, and this 
was a most important link connecting him with the crime 
and thereby furnishing an explanation of his testimony at 
the trial. Strenuous efforts had been put forth to impeach 
the evidence of Fowler, and it was done on almost every 
proposition. Many affidavits were secured to show why he 
had an interest if not an actual part in the crime. An affi- 
davit of John E. Horner, a logger who worked with Fowler 
in the latter's sawmill in Kentucky in September, 1890. 
They were sitting on a log one day talking about women, 
when Fowler asked Horner if he knew Isaac Smith's wife, 
to which he replied no. Then Fowler said : I used to car 
logs in the neighborhood where she lived, and when Isaac 
was away I used to have lots of fun with her. In March, 
1890, A. B. Newman made affidavit that he had asked Fow- 
ler if it was true that Isaac Smith had told him in Cincin- 
nati or elsewhere that he (Isaac) had killed Skidmore and 
was going away to Arkansas. To this Fowler replied : It 
is a d — d lie. Isaac Smith never told me any such thing. 
Fowler testified on the witness stand that he was told this by 
Smith. To make the case plainer against him, Smith's wife 
was also induced to make an affidavit to the same effect that 
Isaac had told her the same thing. On this point Melissa 
McKinley made affidavit that for ten days after the murder 
Mrs. Nellie Smith, Isaac's wife, had repeatedly asserted her 
belief that Isaac had never killed Skidmore. James Ma- 
son made affidavit that he had both before and after the 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



119 



killing seen Guy on Fowler at the Snively home where Mrs. 
Isaac Smith lived. The latter had told that Fowler had not 
been at the house for three years before and three years 
after, and again she told another that he had been there 
about a year before. 

George Moore testified in a similar manner. For fur- 
ther refutation of Mrs. Smith's statement that she was not 
associating with Fowler, there was the affidavit of Mary 
Smith to the effect that Isaac's wife had sent a pair of shoes 
to her husband in the Waverly jail by Guy on Fowler, and 
had also sent a plug of tobacco by the same delectable char- 
acter. Madison Mustard stated in an affidavit that Isaac 
had told him he was going to Arkansas some days before 
and that it was generally understood in the' neighborhood 
that he was not getting along well with his wife on account 
of her relations with Fowler. Albert Gill testified that the 
reputation of Fowler for truth and veracity was bad. Isaac 
had told him he was going to Arkansas a short time before 
the killing of Skidmore. Others made similar affidavits as 
to what Smith had told them about his going away. Rev. D. 
B. Barr testified that Fowler's reputation was very bad; 
that he would get drunk and was quarrelsome; that he 
could not be believed under oath, etc. Nicholas Kessler 
made similar affidavits to the effect in addition that Fowler 
had no fixed residence and his habits were dissolute. Leo- 
pold Deavener, a shoemaker, made affidavit that Isaac Smith 
had come to him two weeks before the presidential election 
and left an order for a pair of boots, which he wanter right 
after the election, as he was going west about that time. 
The affidavits from reputable citizens showing that Isaac 
Smith had arranged to go to Arkansas weeks before the 
killing destroyed the testimony of Fowler and furnished 
sufficient explanation of Isaac Smith's going to Arkansas 



120 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

the morning after the day Skidmore was killed. More af- 
fidavits were submitted which utterly destroyed the credi- 
bility of Fowler's testimony. It will be remembered that 
he claimed he left Harden on the Sunday afternoon of the 
murder and went down to Newtown, where he was working 
on a ridge with some other men. The friends of Isaac 
Smith have always denied that he went down the road that 
afternoon for several reasons. In the first place, there was 
the affidavit of Miss Kates, daughter of 'Squire Kates, of 
Harden, who declared that Fowler was in the habit of com- 
ing there to see her sister, and that he was there on Sunday 
afternoon and left about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. New- 
town is down the road a great many miles, and a walker even 
as fast the state would have shown that Isaac Smith was 
when he went nearly three miles east and after killing Skid- 
more went back west nearly four miles to the home of little 
Mary Smith, and all within fifty minutes at that. As no 
train went to Newtown that afternoon, and the last one went 
at noon, Mr. Fowler did not go because he could not. As 
no one who knew him would ever accuse him of being an 
angel, unless a very dark one, he could not fly. Neither 
could he swim, for there were no high waters at that season 
of the year. The question in the mind of Governor Camp- 
bell was, where was Guy on Fowler that night? Did he see 
the Vances, and if so, where? Isaac Smith declares that 
he passed the Indiana sawmill about 5 o'clock on the Sun- 
day afternoon of the murder, which would tally with the 
time he left the Kates house in Harden three miles south 
about an hour before. The affidavits of the bridge men 
with whom Fowler worked formed an interesting incident 
in the case. Two of them, T. W. Dye and C. Homes, testi- 
fied that Fowler went down on Monday with them. L. Tay- 
lor, a storekeeper at Harden, produced an abstract from his 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 121 

books, under date of November 12, which was Monday fol- 
lowing the murder, which shows that Fowler bought 25 
cents worth of tobacco on that day. That being the case, 
he could not have been away from Harden at all on Sunday, 
and must have gone down the road in the morning, as the 
bridge men say, and as he denied going, this was proof show- 
ing that he was not telling the truth in at least this part of 
the story. Fowler claimed that after leaving Harden on 
that Sunday he went to Newtown and stopped at the hotel 
kept by Isaac Deal, who makes an affidavit that Fowler did 
nothing of the kind. The affidavits left nothing for the 
testimony of Fowler to stand upon, and made the attitude 
of the state ridiculous, if nothing worse. 

So time went along again, and very swiftly, too. De- 
cember 19 was almost at hand. On the day before, there 
appeared in the office of the Governor two of the leading 
men of the city. They had come without the knowledge 
of the other. Each was ignorant of the purpose of the 
other. One of these gentlemen was eminent in the law. 
The other was distinguished as one of the highest dignitar- 
ies of the church. The lawyer stood alone at the bar in 
his profession. His talents had long been recognized and 
his business had no equal in the city. He never made it a 
rule to appear in a criminal case. Occasionally when cases 
of the greatest import were on trial he had been induced to 
accept a fee of his own naming. In the present case he 
knew very well that Isaac Smith had no money, nor did any 
of his friends have any. It was therefore not a matter of 
mercenary principle that induced Hon. Henry, J. Booth to 
step aside from a practice that vielded him thousands a year 
to become interested in a friendless man who stood behind 
the bars of a death cell awaiting execution at the hands of 
the law. The other gentleman was Right Reverend Bish- 



122 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



op John A. Watterson, of this city. When Governor Camp- 
bell learned that the mission of the two gentlemen were the 
same he seemed greatly surprised and agitated. Calling 
them in the private room of his office, he told them in a tone 
of disappointment that he was sorry they had called when 
they did, as he had finally made up his mind to let the law 
take its course. They reasoned with him. The Governor 
remained obdurate, but listened. After hearing what they 
had to say a bright idea suddenly seemed to strike him. Ris- 
ing to his feet, he suddenly declared that if his visitors would 
agree to make a trip into Pike and Scioto counties he would 
give them plenty of time and respite the condemned once 
again. Both were overjoyed at the proposition and readily 
assented. Going out into* the other room, the Governor 
called his secretary and dictated another respite for Isaac 
Smith, making the date March 20. Bishop Watterson and 
Mr. Booth walked out of the executive room feeling that 
the work they had done was one they would never have rea- 
son to regret. 

In the meantime there was another scene being enacted 
elsewhere. Warden Dyer was absolutely sure of his man 
this time. He was not going to overlook anything to make 
the last hours of Smith and his companions doomed to die 
the same night as gruesome and miserable as he could. In 
the afternoon the friends of Isaac Smith had almost given up 
in despair, but at this time it seemed as though Governor 
Campbell would allow the law to take its course and that 
Isaac Smith would pay the penalty of the crime of others. 
Detectives Brown and Foster evidently thought so too, for 
some time in the late afternoon Mr. Hays found both 
gentlemen standing at the corner of High and Broad, both 
deeply affected at the prospect of the judicial murder of an 
innocent man. Foster was barely able to talk, while Brown 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 123 

could only do so with the greatest effort. Both men had 
done their very best to save the doomed man from his fate, 
but at that moment it appeared to them that their labors 
were to be in vain. 

Tli£t Foster was excited was evident a few moments 
later when he went to the telegraph office and sent a dis- 
patch to Milton Mustard, of Harden, O., instructing him to 
dig Isaac Smith's grave by the side of tha^ of his mother in 
the village cemetery of Rarden. Mr. Hays endeavored to 
dissuade him from doing so, but he would not hear to it, and 
the telegiam was sent. Mr. Hays at this particular moment 
was about the only man who seemed to feel that Isaac would 
be spared that night. He told the detectives as much and 
then went to the penitentiary where he found Isaac dressed 
up as though prepared for a marriage instead of a hanging. 
Three weeks before he had been incarcerated in the death 
cell and made to suffer the agony of the lost, ?nd this time 
the Warden was going to make the occasion as interesting 
and real as possible. He had sent out for a tailor who came 
and measured Isaac Smith, Henry Popp and Elmer Sharkey 
for their clothe^. iSTot content with this, he ordered the cof- 
fins, and along in the afternoon three black boxes were slow- 
ly carried into the reception room of the annex, where the 
three condemned could get a good look at them and perhaps 
sharpen their appetites for their "last supper," this being 
the "third of Isaac Smith's last supper." Then Mr. Kinkead 
came along and entered th annex, feeling as though the last 
moment had at last come. As he sat down he said: Well, 
Isaac, as this is your last supper, I will take a seat and eat 
with you. This meal was eaten in silence almost. Isaac 
had nothing to say, and he did not seem to have a very in- 
tense craving for anything in the line of edibles. But all 
the while Mr. Kinkead had not given up. He had a faint 



124 



CRIME OF THE STATE, 



hope that something might be done; that something might 
yet turn up. So he told Isaac that he was as good as a dozen 
dead men yet, and to keep up his courage to the last. He 
stated to him that Bishop Watterson and Mr. Booth were 
still with the Governor when he came away, and he thought 
they might be able to secure another respite. At this mo- 
ment Mr. Kinkead did not know that one had really been 
granted, but he had an indefinable feeling that one would 
be. Yet he could give no reason for it. It seemed to him 
that Isaac Smith was never intended to die on the scaffold 
with the rope of a murderer about his neck. It was not long 
after that when the news of the respite came, with the ac- 
companying announcement that Bishop Watterson and Mr. 
Booth were going to make a personal investigation in the 
counties of Scioto and Pit i themselves. That night Shark- 
ey and Popp were hanged. Isaac Smith, just across the 
wall, could hear everything that was said and done. He 
knew every movement, from the steps of the executioners 
ascending the stairway to the death cell for their victim to 
the strapping of the same miserable wretch, the encircling 
rope, the click of the lever pulled by the Warden, the rattle 
of the trap doors, the "dull thud" and the gasps of the dying. 
Twice that night did Isaac Smith hear these sounds that 
through him and others then awaiting execution 
well as through him and the others then awaiting execution 
on either side of him. Between this date and March 20 but 
little was heard of the case. The public began to think that 
even if Isaac Smith was guilty he had been punished enough, 
and that further torture would be barbarous and cruel. Pub- 
lic sentiment had already settled the fate of the condemned, 
and all that was now lacking was time. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. J25 



CHAPTER XVI. 



WATTERSON AND BOOTH. 



The Highest Dignitary in the Catholic Church Here, and 
One of the Most Eminent Lawyers at the Ohio Bar Per- 
suade the Governor to Grant the Ninth Respite — Their 
Investigations at the Scene of the Murder. 



About the second week in March, Messrs. Booth and 
Watterson made their celebrated trip into Scioto and Pike 
counties. Their report was made to the Governor on April 
18, 1891, after Isaac Smith had been respited again for the 
tenth time until April 29. In their report they secured the 
statements of a number of officers in the village of Rarden 
who had once arrested "Black Dick" Vance when very 
drunk, on which occasion, while under arrest and heavily 
guarded, being taken after a determined fight, "Black Dick" 
had said to Dan Wallace : I am implicated in the Skidmore 
murder and want you to send for "Yellow Dick." Ned Coe 
told him to shut up, and the next morning when "Black 
Dick" was told about this he said: I surely didn't say that. 
I meant they were trying to implicate me in the murder. 
Coe was deputy marshal at the time. Several others who 
had assisted in the arrest testified to the same when seen by 
Mr. Booth and Bishop Watterson. A determined effort to 
interview Mrs. Nellie Smith, who was met coming into Rar- 
den as the party was going out, was not productive of much 
good. She seemed averse to saying anything. She and a 



126 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

friend were finally induced to accept an offer to ride out to 
the vicinity of the Indiana sawmill, where the Snivelys lived, 
and on the way the report describes her and her friends as 
engaging in "flippant conversation, interspersed with sing- 
ing and whistling." They reached the home of Mrs. 
Smith's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Snively, who had made such 
an effort to hang their son-in-law in the evening, and at- 
tempted to interview the daughter again, but with no better 
success. Both the Snivelys seemed to fear something would 
be said they might not hear, and would not permit their 
daughter to even talk with Bishop Watterson alone. Both 
became disgusted, though they displayed wonderful calm- 
ness and philosophy in writing out their account of their 
interview with the Snivelys and Mrs. Smith. In the patches 
of interview which they did manage to have with her, she 
made numerous contradictory statements and seemed to be 
about as reliable as her friend, Fowler. After leaving the 
gentlemen at Harden during the dinner hour, she had made 
statements up town that she told them something which 
would not do them any good. As to the character of Mrs. 
Porter, who was with Mrs. Smith that day, it 
was very bad according to the statement of Michael 
Freeman, who at that time kept the hotel at Har- 
den, known as The Home Hotel. She was not a woman of 
good reputation; that she had a daughter hard enough for 
three women; that she had got a bad disease and had given 
it to all the men in the country about Indiana Mills; that 
this daughter is unmarried and has always lived at home 
and has had a bad reputation for two or three years or more 
to Mr. Freeman's knowledge. He further stated that "Mrs. 
Porter's husband lives with her and works about the Bleak- 
man's — when he does work ; that she wore the drawers. She 
does as she pleases, and he as he can." Little Mary Smith 



CRIME OF THE STATE. ytf 

was also visited. This is the house where Isaac Smith had 
staid all the night of November 11 after the fatal game of 
cards and on the same night of the killing of Skidmore. His 
wife was there at the same time and they all staid in the 
same room, when nothing was said about Isaac having killed 
his cousin, Skidmore, that evening, as Mrs. Smith afterward 
made affidavit to. Little Mary stated to the visitors that such 
a conversation could not have occurred that night. Messrs. 
Booth and Watterson confirmed this by taking measure- 
ments of the house and the room which was known as a 
"Box" house, being attached to another one alongside of it. 
It was this house which Isaac had helped to pay for and 
which, when his brother died, he had made over his part 
to the wife and widow. 

They also interviewed John Q. Lawhill, who is a farm- 
er and a minister also, as well as an honest man. He had 
made a statement to others that Mrs. Penh had told him 
that on the morning after the killing of Skidmore, about 1 
o'clock, "Yellow Dick" Vance had come there and staid un- 
til about sunrise, and that before leaving he told them that 
Stephen Skidmore had been killed. If it had been Dick 
Skidmore it would not have made a d — n bit of difference, 
but being Steve, it was a pity. He also told them that Mrs. 
Penn made the same statement to James W. Jones, at the 
same time, as thev afterwards told him. Just how "Yellow 
Dick" Yance knew that Stephen Skidmore had been killed 
the night before without doing the killing himself will never 
be known unless he confesses to the murder himself. If 
there were no other evidence, this alone would clear Isaac 
Smith, and it did have an immense influence on the mind of 
the Governor. 

Before going away from the village of Harden Mr. 
Booth called on the Mayor and secured his docket, which is 



128 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



appended hereto, so far as it relates to the standing of 
"Black Dick" Vance in that corporation. This covers a per- 
iod of about fifteen months : 



STATE OF OHIO 



vs, 



RICHARD VANCE. 



Docket!, page 76. 

Indecent exposure of person. 

Complaint filed. Jan. 30, 
1889. 

Complaint filed. John W. 
Riley. 

Warrant issued to F. P. 

Wallace. 
No return. 



STATE OF OHIO 



vs, 



RICHARD VANCE. 



Docket 1, page 77. 
Use of obscene and lasci- 
vious language. 
Complaint filed. Jan. 30, '89. 

" 4 ' Harrison 

Wallace. 

Warrant issued to F. P. 

Wallace. 

No return. 



STATE OF OHIO 



vs, 



RICHARD VANCE. 



Docket 1, page 78. 

Use of profane language. 

Complaint filed. Jan. 30, '89. 

Ditto, by Harrison Wallace. 

Warrant issued to F. P. 
Wallace. 

No return. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 129 

STATE OF OHIO \ Docket 1, page 82. 

I Plain drunk in village. 

vs - } March 4, '89. 

RICHARD VANCE. ) Fined $1 and costs. 



THE STATE OF OHIO\ Docket 1, page 84. 

( Plain drunk, 
vs / 

( March 9, '89. 



RICHARD D. VANCE. / Fined $2 and costs. 



THE STATE OF OHIO 



Docket 2, page 90. 
Use of profane language. 
Complaint filed by F. P. 
Wallace. 

Complaint filed. Jan. 27, '90. 
! Fined $1.50 and costs. 
$3 for assistance. 



THE STATE OF OHIO 1 Docket 2, page 92. 

vs. V Plain drunk Jan. 27, '90. 

RICHARD VANCE. J Fined $5 and costs. 

THE STATE OF OHIO ] Docket 2, page 94. 

| Assault on F. P. Wallace, 
| Jan. 27, '90 r 
RICHARD VANCE. Fined & 1 and costs. 



130 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



\ Docket 2, page 106. 
THE STATE OF OHIOJ Use of obscene and licen . 

( tious language, 

vs. / Complaint filed by Ned. Coe, 

V March 17, '90. 

RICHARD VANCE. ) Fined $1 and costs. 

/ Assistant A. Jenkins. 



THE STATE OF OHIO] Docket 2, page 108. 

I Plain drunk. 



vs, 



RICHARD VANCE. 



" March 27, '90. 
Fined $1, and costs. 




CRIME OF TEE STATE. ^ 



CHAPTER XVII 



ME. KIKKEAD'S REPORT. 

After Making Many Trips Into the Vicinity of the Crime, 
Edgar B. Kinkead Files His Report with the Governor, 
and the Latter Thereupon Takes Action and Commutes 
the Prisoner to Life Sentence. 



Attorney Kinkead never for a moment related his ef- 
forts from the day he first took hold of the case at his own 
expense. It was not a question of financial consideration 
with him at all. He spent many months of hard work pre- 
paring addresses to the board of pardons, having made two 
statements to that honorable body early in the spring of 
1890. Then he wrote an able and psychological argument to 
the Governor on the very day that the latter had written 
him, October 10, 1890, stating in effect that if he had noth- 
ing more to offer Isaac Smith would have to hang. This 
was a keen analysis of the evidence of the state, and thor- 
oughly shattered the structure of conviction obtained against 
his client. Detective Brown coming into the case at this 
time and agreeing to make a report of his investigations in 
Pike county, assisted the Governor to make up his mind to 
grant a respite from October 24 to November 29, when the 
gallows scene was arranged by Warden Dyer. The ap- 
pearance of Grannan, of Cincinnati, a month later, aided in 
the respite of December 19, when the grave was dug at Rax- 
den. Mr. Kinkead's very able and interesting report to the 
Governor follows: 



132 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

Columbus, 0., April 26, 1891. 
Hon. James E. Campbell, Governor: 

Dear Sir — I submit the following report of the results 
of my recent trip to Pike county, to investigate the case of 
Isaac Smith. Respectfully, 

EDGAR B. KINKEAD. 

The first person I interviewed was Mr. James W. Jones, 
whom I found on Camp Creek, near Lock Mills, and caught 
him just as he was loading up his household effects prepara- 
tory to moving over to Bethel. 

I informed him of my mission, when he hesitated some, 
and I then showed him the letter which I had from the Gov- 
ernor, which seemed to give him confidence, and he imme- 
diately said with some force : 

"Well, they can't do nothing with a feller for telling 
what he knows, and the truth. These Skidmores and some 
of them have been making some threats around here since 
they have heard that I told about my conversation with Mrs. 
Dr. Penn, but they can blow away, I'm not afraid of them, 
and I will just tell you. I was over at Bethel's working, 
and was at my mother-in-law's house, and Mrs. Dr. Penn was 
there visiting. She and I got to talking about the Skidmore 
murder, and I advanced the opinion that if Smith was guilty 
of that murder, that there was some one else implicated in it 
too. Mrs. Penn replied that that was her opinion too, and 
as if to assign a reason for that opinion, told me that on the 
Monday morning after the Sunday on which Skidmore was 
murdered, between midnight and sunrise, 'Yellow Dick' 
Vance came to their (Penn's) house, and that while there he 
(Vance) asked her (Mrs. Penn) if they had heard that Steph- 
en Skidmore had been killed, and that he showed her con- 
siderable money. Mrs. Penn also said that when he spoke 



_ 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 133 

of Skidmore being killed, lie sort of caught himself, and 
said 'Oh!' as if he was sorry that he had spoken of it. And 
that he showed her some money. 

"Mrs. Penn further told me that about sunrise or day- 
light Vance went from their house to Harden, and took the 
train, and hadn't been back there since." 

Mr. Jones says that this conversation took place about 
August, 1890, as well as he could recollect. 

I then told Mr. Jones that I would like to see his wife 
and see what her recollection was about it, and he took me 
to the house, where she was packing up, and talked to her 
alone. She was very backward at first. She said that she 
did not want to swear to anything for fear that she would 
make a mistake, when I assured her that I did not ask her 
to swear to anything, only to make an honest statement of 
what occurred to the best of her recollection. She said: 
"Well, I wasn't in the room all the time; I was getting din- 
ner, and I heard my husband talking about the murder, and 
didn't just hear every word that was spoken. But once 
when I went into the cupboard to get some dishes, which 
were in the room where my husband and Mrs. Penn were 
sitting, and I heard Mrs. Penn say that Yance came to her 
house on Monday morning and asked her if she had heard 
that Steve Skidmore had been killed, and heard her (Mrs. 
Penn) say that Yance came to their house before daylight." 

Such was the run of my conversation with her, and then 
I asked Mr. Jones if he could go with me some place and 
make affidavit to what he had stated, and he said he was will- 
ing to swear to what he had said to me, but that he had a good 
ways to move and had nothing but a slow ox team, and it 
would take him most all dav to get to Bethel, where he was 
moving. I then suggested that I might write out an affi- 
davit and let him take it with him, and he could swear to 



134 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

it over at Bethel, and send it to me on Friday, which he said 
he could do very well. Accordingly, I prepared an affida- 
vit, embracing what he had stated to me, as related above, 
and when I had finished the same (writing the same on my 
lap while sitting on the porch floor), I read the same over to 
Mr. Jones in the presence of Mrs. Jones, and when I read 
the part about Vance saying "Oh!" Mrs. Jones spoke up and 
said, "Yes, I remember of hearing Mrs. Penn say that." 
Mrs. Jones admitted that she had heard the conversation 
substantially as I had written it in the affidavit. 



I inquired of several citizens both in the vicinity of 
where Jones had lived, as well as about Harden, who knew 
him, and they universally said that he was perfectly relia- 
ble. When he spoke about the threats which had been 
made by the Skidmores and others about his having told 
about this conversation between himself and Mrs. Penn, 
and said that he did not care what they said, that he had 
told the truth, and they could not hurt him for telling the 
truth, I was very much impressed with his candor. Mr. 
Jones also informed me that Mrs. Penn was a cousin of his. 
He also stated that he had heard that Mrs. Penn had gone 
back on her statement, and that he thought the reason was 
on account of what the Skidmores had said. 

MRS. CYNTHIA LAWWILL. 

I next went to see Mrs. Lawwill, wife of John Lawwill, 
and found her at the house of one McCann, where she was 
•attending a funeral. It was rather delicate for me to call 
her out, but did so, and I told her what I wanted, and she 
very frankly told me her version of the conversation be- 
tween her husband, Mrs. I >r. Penn and herself. I was more 
impressed with Mrs. Lawwill than any person whom I have 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 13 5 

interviewed. The circumstances were of course somewhat 
solemn, and she made her statement to me as if she could not 
tell anything else but the truth, and seemed simple-minded 
as a child. 

She said in sub.-tance : 

"Mrs. Dr. Penn had stopped at their house to rest and 
to see their sick girl whom the doctor was attending. They 
began talking about the Skidmore murder and in the course 
of the conversation Mrs. Penn told her and her husband that 
-'Yellow Dick' Vance had come to their house one Monday 
morning after the Sunday on which Skidmore was killed, 
about midnight or 1 o'clock; that while there he (Vance) 
asked if they had heard that Stephen Skidmore was killed, 
and said that if it was so that it would be a pity, but if it had 
been Doc, Skidmore it would not have made any difference. 
Mrs. Penn said that Vance appeared as if he was sorry that 
he had said it, and that he also showed her some money." 

JOHN Q. LAWWILL. 

I found Mr. Lawwill out in the woods cutting ties, and 
had an interview with him. He stated that he had heard 
of some of the Skidmores making threats and doing consid- 
erable talk about what he had said about his conversation 
with Mrs. Penn, and had also heard that Mrs. Penn was mad 
at him, and that she had denied ever having said anything 
to him. He then told me the same story that he had told 
Mr. Booth and Bishop Watterson, being careful to make one 
correction in his statement, saying that he had a notion to 
write to Mr. Booth, to say that it was his little girl that was 
sick, instead of his little boy. 

I then sat down on some ties in the woods and drew up 
an affidavit, embracing all the matters related by Mr. and 
Mrs. Lawwill, which they said they would sign and send to 



-L36 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

Columbus, reaching here about Saturday. I then saw a 
notary who promised to go to the Lawwills and take the 
affidavit. 

Mr. Lawwill said that he had recently had a conversa- 
tion with one Robert Jones, in which Jones said that either 
he had seen "Yellow Dick" Vance in Harden on the Monday 
morning after the murder, or else, that Jones had said that 
some one else had told him (Jones) that they had seen Vance 
and that he was on a "tear" and said something about some 
one being killed. 

I inquired as to Mr. Lawwill' s character and reliability, 
and found it to be the very best. 



MES. DR. PENK 

I then returned to Rarden, by way of Harmon Chapel 
and Mustards, and then went out to see Mrs. Dr. Penn, find- 
ing her at the house of a neighbor, and had a private inter- 
view with her. 

I told her that I desired to know about what it has been 
reported that she had said about Vance coming to her house 
on the Monday morning after Skidmore was killed, and 
asked her if there was anything in it about what it was said 
she had told parties. 

She said she had told no one any such a thing; that 
there was nothing in it. I asked her if she had ever had a 
conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Lawwill on the subject of 
the Skidmore murder, and she said that she had. I asked 
her if it was at the time that she stopped at their house, as 
they claimed. She said she did have a conversation with 
them about the murder at the time, but that she did not tell 
them anything about Vance. She said that she stopped at 
their house that dav to rest. 



CRIME OF THE 8TATE. I37 

She admitted that she was over at Bethel and saw Mr. 
and Mrs. Jones, as claimed by them, but denied in toto hav- 
ing any conversation as claimed by them. 

With all due respect to Mrs. Penn as a lady, I was not 
impressed with the manner in which she answered, and she 
did not say any more than she could help. 

She did not look me square in the face once during the 
conversation. Mrs. Penn said that they lived in Harden at 
the time of the killing of Skidmore. 



ALEXANDER JENKINS. 

Mr. Jenkins was very backward about talking; said 
that he didn't have to say anything, and did not feel like 
saying anything without being compelled to. I told him 
that the Governor would like to know what he has to say 
about the time that "Black Dick" Vance was under arrest, 
and that whatever he would say would not be known in and 
about Harden, and after a good deal of persuasion I got him 
to answer some questions, and he admitted that he assisted 
Mr. Grafton Windell arrest "Black Dick" Vance, and that 
while they had him under arrest, that he called for Dan Wal- 
lace, and asked him to write to "Yellow Dick" to come back, 
and to tell him that he was implicated in the Skidmore mur- 
der. Inasmuch as I could not get him to say anything, 
only by way of answering my questions, I then read over to 
him the statement made by Grafton Windell, and when 
through he said to me : 

"Well, you can tell them 'fellers' that if I was put on 
the witness stand that I would have to tell the same story 
as Grafton Windell." 



138 CRIME OF TEE STATE. 

MORE ABOUT GUY FOWLER. 

He made the statement to us in Columbus when he was 
going through the examination here that last fall when 
he was up the hollow past Snively's, that he did not stop at 
Snively's, but that he merely passed by on his way up the hol- 
low and came back down, and that he was hunting a fellow to 
go over into Kentucky to work on his brother's mill. 

I learned on my last trip that instead of going up past 
Snively's and coming back the same day, that he went the 
other hollow past Mustards and v^ash. Smith's. 

Milton Mustard informed me that Fowler was at his 
house the last of September or first of October, and that he 
stayed at Wash. Smith's all night, and went on over into the 
hollow where the Indiana mill was and where Snively lives. 
Mr. Mustard also told me that he had made arrangements 
to have Mr. John Horner make an affidavit as to a conversa- 
tion which he (Horner) had with Fowler when he (Fowler) 
came back from the Snively house in Rarden, the sub- 
stance of the conversation, as related to Mustard by Horner 
being that Fowler had told Horner that he had stayed all 
night at Snively's, and that he had had an awful lot of fun 
there. 

I saw Mr. Forsythe and asked him about the matter, 
and he said that he had drawn the affidavit, and had Horner 
swear to it, and had sent it to the Governor. 

I report this because I had never seen the affidavit 
among the papers. 



STILL MORE ABOUT FOWLER. 

Mr. Abe Forsythe informed me that Franklin Pember- 
ton, who lives near Peebles Station, came to see him last 
Friday, that is, Friday, April 14, and told him that there 



CRIME OF THE STATE. I39 

was a man by the name of Adelphos Penn who was working 
with Guy Fowler at present over in Kentucky on Joel Fow- 
ler's mill, and that Penn and Fowler were paying attention 
to the same girl, and that Fowler had told the girl some 
"stuff" about Penn; that the girl had told Penn what Fowler 
had told her, which made him indignant, and that Penn said 
to Pemberton that Fowler had better keep still, for by saying 
two words, he (Penn) could pen him (Fowler.) That Penn 
had told Pemberton that Fowler had said that he had Mrs. 
Smith in the smoke house one time, and that old man Snive- 
ls came in on them and pretty near caught them. 

That Pemberton had heard Fowler and Penn talking 
both before and since the murder about being intimate with 
Mrs. Smith. 

That Fowler had said to Pemberton that he was ex- 
pecting to be arrested for the murder of Skidmore, and that 
he wanted to have his matters in shape and get everything 
out of his hands, and that Pemberton bought Fowler's team 
about four months ago. 

Pemberton went to Mr. Forsythe and told him this for 
the purpose of helping Isaac Smith. 

I met Joel Fowler on the train, and I asked him wheth- 
er or not there was a fellow by the name of Penn working 
for him, and he said there was. 

Mr. Brown had been in correspondence with Guy Fow- 
ler for some time, with a view to getting him to go with 
Browm, and show where he stayed on the Sunday night in 
question. Immediately after the visit of Mr. Booth and 
Bishop Watterson to Pike county, Mr. Browm received a 
telegram from Fowler asking Mr. Brown to meet him at 
Harden at 3 o'clock on a certain day. Upon that day in the 
forenoon Fowler was in Harden and told Mrs. Taylor and 
others that he was there to meet Mr. Brown to show him 



140 CRIME OF TEE STATE. 

where lie stayed Sunday night. Instead of remaining un- 
til 3 o'clock, when Mr. Brown would be there, he took the 
11 o'clock train and went to Ottoway. Milton Mustard was 
on the same train with him. Fowler returned, so I am in- 
formed by his brother Joel, on the afternoon train, and in- 
stead of stopping at Harden, he goes on down to Newtown 
on the same train that Mr. Brown went to Rarden, and, of 
course, Mr. Brown did not see him. 

Just why Fowler should voluntarily telegraph Brown 
to meet him at Rarden, when he had always claimed that he 
was at Newtown on the Sunday night, and then go up to 
Ottoway, and avoid Brown, remains a mystery. 

Mr. Brown failing to see Fowler, went out to see Dr. 
Penn and his wife; this was just subsequent to the visit of 
Mr. Booth and Bishop Watterson. He saw Mrs. Penn and 
her husband together, and the doctor was very indignant, 
and threatened to prosecute those who said that his wife had 
said anything about Vance being there. 



DR. PENN AND "YELLOW DICK" VANCE. 

I found, upon inquiry, that Dr. Penn is quite a drinker, 
and rather a tough character. 

I asked Mr. Forsythe whether he had ever seen Dr. 
Penn and "Yellow Dick" Vance drinking together, and he 
answered: "Oh, yes; hundreds of times." This would be 
an explanation as to how Vance would stop there. 



VANCE GOING TO THE TRAIN FROM PENN'S. 

If Mrs. Penn's story which she told to Mr. Jones, accord- 
ing to his interview, be true, to wit: that Vance left their 
house and took the train,that would put "Yellow Dick"Vance 



GRIME OF THE STATE. 141 

and Guy Fowler on the same train, because there was only 
one train out of Harden, and that was the one going west, 
and upon which it is claimed that Fowler went to his work. 
It would have been natural for Vance to have gone on the 
train to Mineral Springs or Evans' Station, to go to Mo- 
Cloud's, his relatives, or to his father's house, which is over 
in that country somewhere. 



There is one more important thing which I want to 
note. While on my trip I tried to get at the first outbreak 
of this Penn- Vance story. I knew that Mr. Brown had in 
December last gotten it in some way from Seldon Smith, 
Isaac's father, and I tried to ascertain just how it was con- 
veyed to him, as I thought that would be of considerable im- 
portance, but from my limited time I could not go to see 
Seldon Smith. Upon my return to Columbus, I sought 
Mr. Brown and asked him just how he first learned the re- 
port, and he told me that he had seen Seldon Smith, who told 
him that Dr. Penn had sent word to him by some one whom 
Mr. Brown could not name that Vance was at their house 
on the morning after the murder, as related in the foregoing 
interviews. 

I heard the theory advanced that Dr. Penn told this 
matter first when he was living quite a ways from the Skid- 
mores, and now that he was near them again, he had reason 
for keeping quiet. 



142 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



COMMUTED TO LIFE. 



After Hearing All the Evidence Gathered by Bishop Wat- 
terson, Hon. Henry J. Booth, Edgar B. Kinkead, De- 
tective Foster and Other Friends of Isaac Smith, Gov- 
ernor Campbell, on April 29, Commuted the Sentence 
to Life Imprisonment. • 



It seemed comparatively easy now for the friends of 
Isaac Smith to save his life from the gallows. One of the 
interesting documents that figured in his salvation was from 
the Mayor of Harden, James N. Wamsley, and written to 
the Board of Pardons March 22, 1890. It said: Inasmuch 
as Isaac Smith was convicted on circumstantial evidence de- 
tailed by such men as "Black Dick" Vance and Guy Fowler, 
I and the greater portion of the community have serious 
doubts of his guilt, and hope and trust that his sentence may 
be commuted. As far as known this appears to be the sen- 
timent of the people here. "Black Dick" Vance a week 
ago made a confession of guilt while very drunk here. Mary 
McCloud, who worked for him, has told lately that after 
Smith and Skidmore started up the run the two Vances were 
right after them. The community will be better satisfied 
with commutation than with hanging. 

A great many other letters and many personal 
advices were at the disposal of the Governor, who was tak- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 



143 



ing a deep interest in the entire matter, having become in- 
censed at the methods of the enemies of Isaac Smith to make 
a case of life depend wholly on the political complexion of 
a county rather than upon right and wrong a?id the rules of 
evidence. In issuing the document that wa-> so important 
to Isaac Smith, Governor Campbell said: 

April 29, 1891. 

ISAAC SMITH. 

On December 17th, 1890, 1 prepared a full synopsis of 
this case, which was published in the newspapers. Refer- 
ence to that statement will' show that an entirely new case 
had developed after the jury in Pike county rendered a ver- 
dict of guilty, which verdict was properly rendered under 
the testimonv offered before them. Since December much 
more testimony of a material character has been discovered. 
Some of it points to Isaac Smith as the murderer, and some 
of it points in another direction. There has been, in all, 
such an accumulation of testimony, pro and con, that the 
existing case is scarcely to be recognized as that which was 
tried tw T o years ago. The task now presented is to constitute 
myself, both judge and jury, and re-try Isaac Smith upon 
testimony, a large part of which consists of affidavits and 
other ex-parte statements, and the reports of officials, attor- 
neys and detectives who have been laboriously and diligent- 
ly engaged for months in attempting to unravel the mys- 
tery which surrounds the murder of Stephen Skidmore. 

Believing that the pardoning power was intended for 
clemency, or as a relief from obvious improper verdicts, 
and that it is not a prerogative to trv a new case involving 
life and death, I sought for legislation which would enable 
Isaac Smith (and all others who might be put in his predica- 
ment), to go before the trial court for a hearing upon new 



144 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

and material evidence, and for a retrial to a jury, provided, 
such evidence would justify setting aside the former verdict. 
I do not hesitate to say that no court would refuse Isaac 
Smith a new trial upon the testimony in my possession. As 
legislation permitting such cases to be tried again to a court 
has not yet been enacted, I am compelled, upon my con- 
science, and as a lawyer, practically to set aside the former 
verdict upon the ground of newly discovered evidence 
which is material to the question of his guilt, and which 
could not by any diligence have been produced before the 
jury upon his trial. 

The question then arises what shall my judgment be 
upon the case as it now stands? To be absolutely logical, 
I should either let him be executed, or grant him a free par- 
don, for he is either guilty of an atrocious and deliberate 
murder, or he is wholly innocent. I cannot let him suffer 
the penalty of murder in the first degree, for in this newly 
discovered evidence there are some facts which raise a rea- 
sonable doubt of his guilt. On the other hand, I cannot 
release him upon ex-parte statements which might prove to 
be of no force or value if the witnesses who made them were 
subjected to cross-examination in the fierce light of an open 
court of justice. 

I am therefore constrained to commute his sentence to 
imprisonment for life, and let time do its work in disclosing 
the truth. I take this action, however, protesting in the 
most solemn manner against existing law which refuses to 
Isaac Smith the right to go before a jury of his countrymen 
for a full and impartial trial of his case ; and, at the same 
time, prevents society from duly punishing him should he 
really be the murderer of Stephen Skidmore. 

JAMES E. CAMPBELL. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 145 

Governor Campbell's letter to Mr. Kinkead on October 
10, 1890, wherein he decided that he could do no more for 
Mr. Kinkead's client, reads as follows: 

Columbus, O., Oct. 10, 1890. 

My Dear sir: I have examined the last batch of af- 
davits in the Isaac Smith case, together with the report of 
Mr. Creighton, my assistant executive clerk, whom I sent 
into Pike and Scioto counties to investigate certain alleged 
new testimony, and I feel it my duty to say to you that un- 
less something more than is now known is presented to me, 
I shall feel it my duty to refuse interference, either to par- 
don, commute or further reprieve him. Sincerely yours, 

JAMES E. CAMPBELL. 
Mr. E. B. Kinkead, City. 



The news that Isaac Smith had finally been commuted 
was received with expressions of satisfaction everywhere, 
and nowhere than in this city was there more genuine re- 
joicing, though even at this time there was a belief in the 
minds of a majority of the people that Isaac should have 
been turned out. Even Governor Campbell seems to have 
thought so, if his commutation sentence is any evidence of 
the state of his mind at that time. 



146 CRIME OF THE STATE. 



CHAPTER XIX 



PKISON LIFE. 



Stripped of His Citizen's Clothing, He Is Given a Suit That 
Made Him a Spectacle for Men and Little Fishes — Some 
of the Various Positions He Held — Return of His 
Friends, the Coffins — The Beautiful Character of Mrs. 
Coffin— The Final Pardon. 



When the news was brought to Isaac Smith that he had 
been commuted, strange to say, it brought no particular joy 
to him. The thought of a long life behind the great prison 
walls for a crime he did not commit and about which he 
knew nothing was for awhile almost as unbearable as the 
tortures of the death cell and the execution room. But 
it was not for him to say what he liked or disliked. 
He was now a full-fledged prisoner and had to go to work. 
In view of the previous conduct of Warden Dyer, it was 
not to be expected that the prisoner who had disappointed 
him so often would have the best situation that the prison 
could afford to give. Isaac was taken to the shop and from 
there to the office of Deputy Porter, who scarcely knew him. 
He was despoiled of his citizen's clothes and made to put on 
a suit which thoroughly disguised him from the world. Th© 
trousers were as tight as bark on an elm, and the coat was 
large enough for Big Liz. The deputy broke out in a loud 
laugh, and Isaac was much confused, being ordinarily a man 
who was fond of good clothes without any more vanity than 



CRIME OF THE STATE. I47 

the ordinary man should have. His cap was as ridiculous 
as the rest, and had he been overtaken by Indians on the 
plains the size of the scalp they would have torn from his 
crown would about have corresponded to the cap he wore. 
He was then escorted to the Snathe shop and intro- 
duced to hard work, which was not so bad as some people are 
sometimes inclined to think it is. Here he remained until 
Aug. 17, when he went into the tobacco shop, working there 
until March, 1892. About this time he was taken sick and the 
newspapers announced that Isaac Smith, the celebrated pris- 
oner, was slowly dying of consumption. As a result of this 
sickness he was given other work and sent to the bath house, 
where he remained until the fall of 1894. After this he 
was transferred to the hall and given charge of the steam- 
ing of the same. For two winters he was employed in the 
halls in this capacity, being engaged about the green house 
in the summer. With a change of administration came in 
once more Isaac's good friends, the kind Mr. and Mrs. Cof- 
fin, who have a reputation almost world-wide among penal 
institutions for their kindness and charity toward their fel- 
low beings in distress. Ever a disciplinarian, Warden 
Coffin believes more in the reformatory ideas of the present 
than in the brutalities and atrocities of former times. More 
than anv other Warden, Mr. Coffin has demonstrated the 
power of ruling b^ kindness rather than by cruelty and 
tyranny such as have disgraced the institution no later than 
the last few years. Warden James seemed to inherit the 
dislike of his predecessor to Isaac Smith, and in the years 
of his administration he was rigorous to Isaac Smith, but 
nevertheless went out with fewer friends on either the in- 
side or outside than the latter has today. . When Warden 
Coffin took charge in the earlv summer of 1896, Isaac Smith 
was not forgotten. He was taken from the inside and given 



148 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

charge over the front yards, where he was practically a free 
man, and could have escaped any time he wished to do so. 
All this while the friends he had made in his great struggle 
for life had neither forgotten nor abandoned him. His sua 
grew brighter and brighter each year, and the hopes of Gov- 
ernor Campbell expressed on the day of the commutation 
that his case would still command the attention of friends 
to a solution were approaching a realization. Mr. Hays 
was active as ever. Mr. Kinkead never for a moment 
doubted that sooner or later his client would once more be 
a free man. A great change had come over the people of 
Pike county, whose credulity had been so grossly imposed 
upon by the sheriff at the time of the commission of the 
crime. As men's judgments cooled with the lapse of time 
and the records of the Vances and Nate Wallace was gradu- 
ally spread on the various criminal court dockets of that 
country, they began to see where The Crime of the State 
began to call for atonement. One of the men who was in 
the Indiana saw mill on the Sunday afternoon of the night 
of the killing of Stephen Skidmore was Nate Wallace, who 
was related to the Vances and others in the neighborhood. 
He was subsequently sent to the penitentiary for grand lar- 
ceny, and was released but a year ago. On the 11th day 
of April, 1895, seven years after the murder of Skidmore, 
the stepmother of this same Nate Wallace made an affidavit 
that charged him with the crime. Her affidavit is as fol- 
lows: 

"I am the widow of Samuel Wallace. I reside at Scrub 
Ridge, Adams county, Ohio. I have lived here about eight 
years. My husband was the father of Nathan Wallace. 
About seven years ago, Nathan Wallace, and a man by the 
name of Vance — who was called "Yellow Dick" — came to 
my house one night about midnight, and kept themselves 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 349 

hid for three or four days. They talked among themselves 
about killing some one, and Nath. Wallace also talked to me 
about it. He said that when the man fell he fell with his 
arms through the forks of a small bush. He and Vance 
were very much frightened, and remained secreted, keeping 
a watch out all of the time, thinking they would be arrested. 
At this time my husband was living. We then lived near 
Cedar Mills. I am Sam. Wallace's second wife. Nathan 
Wallace was a son of his first wife. While Nathan and 
Vance were secreted in their room they talked about the 
killing of a man. I became somewhat concerned and would 
watch my chance to get near the door and listen to their con- 
versation. They talked a great deal about where 
they would go, and how they would escape detection. They 
called the man's name Skidmore, who was killed. They 
stayed at the house three or four days, and left one evening 
about dark. I have not seen Vance since that time. I 
have, however, seen Wallace several times since. I know 
that at that time Nathan and Vance were at work at the 
'Indiana' saw mill for mv husband. My husband said that 
the boys were at the saw mill playing cards. Skidmore was 
visiting them. I do not know either Skidmore or Smith, 
the man charged with killing Skidmore. I have no inter- 
est in the matter. This statement is made without prejudice 
and from what I learned from Nathan Wallace and Vance 
while they were at my house. They led me to believe that 
they had some part in the killing of Skidmore. They had 
a valise with them, which they burned, and they also left 
a coat and a pair of pants at my house. I cut them up. 
The coat was a good black dress coat. The evening they 
left my house Daniel Wallace came there and told them 
they had better get out of there, for the- were going to get 
into trouble. He took them out and talked in a low tone, 
but I overheard him." 



1 50 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

On May 2 ; 1894, Alonzo Grove, the postmaster of Elm 
Grove, wrote a letter to the Board of Managers in which he 
roundly denounced the imprisonment of Isaac Smith, and 
said he had been convicted by "as green and ignorant a jury 
as ever sat on a case." The imprisonment, he declared fur- 
ther, was simply a newspaper imprisonment; that had it not 
been for a certain newspaper editor who had relatives con- 
nected with the prosecution whom he wished to assist in 
covering with glory, Isaac Swith would never have been 
convicted at all. He declared that he was acquainted with 
the "Skidmore family and all the many desperate characters 
that associated with them." In this connection it might be 
proper to say that Stephen Skidmore was not a bad fellow, 
and was sometimes known as the "banker," by reason of 
having money about him at times. The others were not 
members of any Sunday School in the neighborhood. They 
had been indicted for trespassing on another man's land and 
for cutting off all the valuable timber and appropriating the 
same to their own use. The statement of Mr. Evlar, the at- 
torney for Smith, informs the reader that when efforts were 
made to bring them to punishment it could not be done for 
fear of the vengeance of the gang with which they associat- 
ed, among whom were the Yances, Nate Wallace and Guy 
Fowler. Even "Yellow Dick" Yance did not seem to think 
much of them as his talk with Mrs. Penn after the murder 
disclosed, when he said it was a "pity if the murdered man 
was Steve, but a d — d good thing if it was Dick." 

After leaving the office of governor, Hon. James E. 
Campbell never lost sight of Isaac Smith for a moment, and 
on several occasions he wrote to Mr. Kinkead inquiring how 
the work of unraveling the mystery was progressing. Mr. 
Campbell unquestionably desired the release of Isaac Smith 
after the report? made to him \v Mr. Kinkead, Bishop Wat- 



CRIME OF THE STATE. ^ 

terson and Mr. Booth. Governor Bushnell also took an in- 
terest in the case. At this point Isaac Smith found a friend 
who was truly a friend, indeed. This was Mrs. Coffin, at 
the mention of whose name in that great prison house of 
sighs two thousand hapless men will rise up and call her 
blessed. A mother in Israel whose heart is touched with 
sadness rather than hardened at the weakness and sin of 
mankind, she is a woman the memory of whose untold acts 
of kindness and benevolence will long live in the hearts of 
the people. When Governor Bushnell named his friend 
and neighbor for Warden of the State Prison he did more 
for the cause of woman than all the woman's right leagues 
ever have or ever will do for women. In that act he brought 
to this institution as its presiding matron Mrs. Coffin, whose 
words were a balm to heal the wounded in spirit and the 
touch of whose hand will bind up the broken-hearted. She 
was devoted and constant in her endeavors to secure the re- 
lease of Isaac Smith, and in the end as much if not more 
to her than anyone else was that liberation due. In the 
gratitude of his heart Isaac Smith never forgets to offer up 
a silent prayer in the still watches of the night for the good 
lady whose gentle hands severed the menacles forged by his 
Pike county enemies. On December 2 Governor Bushnell 
went to the office in the State House, and there before him 
on his desk lay a document delivered by private message 
from the State Prison. He opened it and read as follows: 

Columbus, O., Dec. 2, 1896. 
Hon. Asa S. Bushnell, Governor, City: 

Dear Sir — In accordance with your request that we 
examine the papers in the case of Isaac Smith, who is an 
applicant for pardon, we beg to report that the board have 
made a most thorough and exhaustive examination 
of the case, and we are convinced first, that 



152 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

there is very serious doubt of the guilt of the 
prisoner. He was convicted on circumstantial evi- 
dence alone. The testimonv was from sources that do not 
seem to be trustworthy, and if it were all entitled to the 
fullest credence, there must still exist serious doubt of the 
guilt of Smith. Since he was convicted, the prisoner has 
conducted himself in a manner that goes very far toward 
convincing the prison officials that he is not capable of com- 
mitting the crime charged. His conduct in prison has been 
above reproach. He is a peaceful, industrious and seeming- 
ly well disposed man. In view of these facts we are unani- 
mous in recommending that he be granted a pardon. 

Yours Respectfully, 

W. B. CHERINGTON, 
GEO. J. HOFFMAN, 
J. R. ROSE, 
T. H. McCONICA, 
C. S. MUSCROFT, 
E. G. COFFIN. 
On Christmas day of the same year, and a little more 
than three weeks later, during the exercises at the chapel, 
the Chaplain, Rev. Winget, announced that a pardon had 
been found in the stocking of Isaac Smith, which had been 
left hanging over the prison wall the night before, and that 
hereafter the owner could go and sin no more if he ever had. 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 153 



CHAPTER XX 



A KETBOSPECT. 

Isaac Smith was imprisoned from the time of his in- 
carceration in the Waverly jail, just eight years and twenty- 
two days. He is starting out a new life with a fair prospect 
of regaining all that he has lost in finance. "Yellow Dick' 7 
Vance is out of the state, having left the night of the mur- 
der with a large amount of money. "Black Dick" Vance, 
too, is gone, none know where. Xate Wallace has since 
served a term in the penitentiary, and by his stepmother 
was accused of the murder of Skidmore. Guyon Fowler 
is dead. So are the parents of Isaac Smith. James H. 
Watkins is in private life, having nothing left but grief and 
sorrow of his political life. He is in a small store not far 
from Waverly. The judgv* who sat on the bench at the trial 
is there no more. Instead, Lawyer James, who defended 
Isaac Smith, is on the bench. The officials of Pike county 
are now friends of Isaac Smith. Warden Dyer is dead, suf- 
fering a horrible end from cancer, and his property went 
with him. Deputy Gib. Porter is living quietly on a farm 
of his own in Perry county. Governor Campbell has had 
many ups and downs in business and politics, and is now be- 
lieved to be on the highway of success once more. Edgar B. 
Kinkead is a rising lawyer in this city. He has become the 
author of a book or two, and is now an instructor as lecturer 
in law at the Ohio State University. He has a brilliant and 



154 GRIME OF THE STATE, 

useful career before him. Hon. Geo. B. Okey has since 
been a candidate on the Democratic State ticket for Judge 
of the Supreme Court, a position for which he is admirably 
equipped by reason of great intellectual powers and an 
amazing comprehension of the law. 

Henry J. Booth is a pride and an ornament to the bar 
of the state, while the name of Bishop John A. Watterson 
commands reverence the world over where the Christian re- 
ligion is the hope of the people and the gospel of the Nazar- 
ene the rock in a weary land. When Isaac Smith a few 
weeks ago went down into Pike county to revisit former 
scenes, he found himself as popular as any man could wish 
to be. Judges of the court were his associates, and lawyers 
his confidential friends. Business men were glad to take 
him by the hand. The common people saw him gladly. 
From the moment of his arrival until his departure there 
was nothing too good for him. It seemed as though every- 
body was trying to do something to show a disapprobation 
of the former act of the county which had contributed so 
much in the Crime of the State. 

"While in the annex three other men escaped the gal- 
lows. One was Frank Morris, now a model prisoner and 
worthy of a pardon. The author has reason to believe that 
the first pen that was active in bringing his case before the 



CRIME OF THE STATE. 155 

proper authorities was his own, and for that act he has never 
had occasion to apologize. Charles Bly, a colored man 
from Cincinnati, who killed Colonel Jones, was an inmate 
with Isaac Smith, and was commuted to life imprisonment, 
when he died a few months later. Otto Leuth and Brocky 
Smith were executed on the night of August 29, 1890. 
Leuth was a hardened young criminal, having killed a little 
girl in Cleveland, then hid her body under the house. He 
joined in the search for several days. The object of the 
murder was outrage. He was hardly 17 when he was 
hanged, and played his violin up to the last. After the 
reading of the death warrant he said: "It's all over with 
me." Leuth drank nearly a half gallon of whisky before 
his execution and made many reckless and irreverent re- 
marks before going on the scaffold. Brocky Smith, who 
had killed an old woman with a knife for her money, was 
more religious and quiet, and appeared to be thoroughly peni- 
tent. The author was present at both of these executions. 
Ellis Miller, a Union county murderer, was the next 
victim, and he died much as he had lived, without a friend, 
unmourned and almost neglected. His death was anything 
but an easy one and had quite an effect on the other inmates 
of the annex who could hear every word that was said. An- 
other double execution to which reference has already been 



156 CRIME OF THE STATE. 

made was that of Elmer Sharkey, who killed his mother, and 
Henry Popp, who killed a saloon man in Stark county. 
Sharkey went on the trap first, and there appears to have 
been an error in the adjustment of the rope, for after he fell 
frightful sounds were emitted from his throat and several 
in the execution room fainted and had to be carried out. 
It is claimed that Sharkey was so frightened that just as he 
was ready to drop through the trap he fell to one side and 
the rope did not come up under the ear properly. His death 
was a horrible one. Stanley Jones was the third man in 
the annex to be commuted. He was a very disagreeable 
man, and on the night that Isaac Smith was brought down 
from the death cell, eight minutes before he thought he 
was to be executed, Jones was in a very bad humor. He 
refused to congratulate Isaac, and sat with a long face and 
refused to speak even. He acted in the same manner when- 
ever any one was respited, and when reproved by the guard 
said that the execution of the others would make it better 
for himself. Others hanged in the annex while Isaac Smith 
was in the big prison were Edward McCarthy, who was a 
noted desperado, and to whom reference has been made 
heretofore. Edward McCarthy and Charles Craig, who 
were also companions of Isaac Smith, were hanged after he 
had gone out of the annex. They were Cincinnati men. 



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